ECCOMAS 2024

Validation of finite volume FSI solver on patient-specific Type-B aortic dissection

  • Horvat, Anja (Faculty of Mechanical Engineering)
  • Tuković, Željko (Faculty od Mechanical Engineering)

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Aortic dissection is a life-threatening cardiovascular disease caused by a tear in the innermost aortic wall layer. This leads to the formation of a secondary blood flow channel in the media layer of the aortic vessel wall known as the false lumen. Treatment can be medical, endovascular, or surgical. Survivors of the acute phase undergo lifelong monitoring to prevent fatal events such as dissection rupture. Patient-specific fluid-structure interaction (FSI) models could potentially aid in disease management by providing insight into the complex hemodynamic of dissections. However, such models are rarely validated, their reliability is questionable and their clinical application is limited. In this work, we describe validation of the finite-volume partitioned FSI solver on a patient specific aortic dissection type B geometry. The aortic geometry used for the simulations is derived from a computed tomography angiography (CTA) scan of patient with TBAD. This geometry is 3D printed into a physical phantom using a material with known mechanical properties. Fluid flow through the phantom is acquired with 4D-flow magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The FSI solver is based on monolithic computational framework where both fluid and solid models are spatially discretised using cell-centered finite volume method and temporal discretisation is preformed by second order accurate implicit scheme. The laminar flow of an incompressible Newtonian fluid (blood) is described by Navier Stokes equations in arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian form. On the other hand, deformation of incompressible neo-Hookean hyperelastic material (aortic wall) is defined by momentum equation in total Lagrangian form. FSI problem is solved using added-mass partitioned scheme, where the fluid sub- problem is solved with a Dirichlet boundary conditions (BC) for velocity (structure velocity) and Robin BC for pressure at the FSI interface, while the solid sub-problem is solved with a Neumann BC (fluid stress) at the interface. The stability of the scheme is ensured by the Robin BC for pressure, where the normal derivative of the pressure at the interface is defined by the reduced momentum equation, while the value of the pressure is bounded by solid inertia. The time-varing volume flow rate is imposed on the inlet (aortic root) and 3 parameters Windkessel boundary conditions are used on the outlets. To compare the simulation results with experimental, voxel-to-voxel method will be used.