Characterization of Hemodynamics in Cardio- and Cerebrovascular Systems¶
Abstract¶
The rupture of an intracranial aneurysm has severe effects on human beings, ranging from neurologic symptoms, functional disability, and cognitive loss to even death. It is believed that hemodynamic parameters play important roles in predicting the risk factors for the initiation, growth, and rupture of a cerebral aneurysm. To study the detailed quantitative hemodynamic characteristics, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of patient-specific aneurysm models reconstructed from patient-specific imaging data has gained popularity in the biomedical field. The current studies usually adopt a direct measurement of the flow and pressure waveforms from a healthy person as the input boundary conditions (BCs). However, as an aneurysm develops, the feedback from this topology change to the alterations of new BCs cannot be realized, and thus the impact on flow characteristics within an aneurysm is only computed locally. In this dissertation, a novel one-dimensional (1D) numerical model covering the entire human cardiovascular network has been developed to compute the global hemodynamics. Then, the three-dimensional (3D) aneurysm modeling is coupled together with the 1D model of the entire network. The proposed multiscale model is employed to investigate the global hemodynamic changes corresponding to the local aneurysm effects. Validation studies have implemented for both 1D and multiscale models by comparing the flow and pressure waveforms with experimental and numerical data available in previous studies. It is demonstrated that the multiscale modeling is able to capture the changes in the flow shunting due to the local structural alterations. Therefore, the main contribution of this work is the development of a multiscale modeling method that is capable of providing a significant insight into the performance of the cardio- and cerebrovascular systems, and the model has the potential to aid in the strategic decision for the diagnosis and treatment a cerebral aneurysm.
Bio
Hongtao Yu is a third-year doctoral student in Mechanical Engineering Department at Wright State University under Professor George P. Huang. His dissertation title is “Characterization of Hemodynamics in Cardio- and Cerebrovascular Systems.” His research is focused on the study of effects of an aneurysm formation on the flow distributions in the human vessel network. Currently, he is working in the Cradle North America Co., Ltd as an intern and has attended number of conferences as a speaker and published a number of conference and journal papers.