Y.T. Chew

Pulsatile flow studies of a porcine bioprosthetic aortic valve in vitro: PIV measurements and shear-induced blood damage

A two-dimensional particle image tracking velocimetry (PIV) system has been used to map the velocity vector fields and Reynolds stresses in the immediate downstream vicinity of a porcine bioprosthetic heart valve at the aortic root region in vitro under pulsatile flow conditions. Measurements were performed at five different time steps of the systolic phase of the cardiac cycle. The velocity vector fields and Reynolds stress mappings at different time steps allowed us to chart a time history of the stress levels experienced by fluid particles as they move across the aortic root. This Lagrangian description of the stresses experienced by individual blood cells enabled us to estimate the propensity of shear-induced damage to platelets and red blood cells. Coupled with flow visualization techniques, the hydrodynamic consequences of introducing a porcine bioprosthetic heart valve into the aortic root was examined. Although the PIV measurements may lack the accuracy of single point measuring systems, the overall view of the flow in the aortic root region compensates for the shortcoming.

A numerical study of flow past a rotating circular cylinder using a hybrid vortex scheme

The vortex shedding and wake development of a two-dimensional viscous incompressible flow generated by a circular cylinder which begins its rotation and translation impulsively in a stationary fluid is investigated by a hybrid vortex scheme at a Reynolds number of 1000. The rotational to translational speed ratio α varies from 0 to 6. The method used to calculate the flow can be considered as a combination of the diffusion-vortex method and the vortex-in-cell method. More specifically, the full flow field is divided into two regions: near the body surface the diffusion-vortex method is used to solve the Navier–Stokes equations, while the vortex-in-cell method is used in the exterior inviscid domain. Being more efficient, the present computation scheme is capable of extending the computation to a much larger dimensionless time than those reported in the literature. The time-dependent pressure, shear stress and velocity distributions, the Strouhal number of vortex shedding as well as the mean lift, drag, moment and power coefficients are determined together with the streamline and vorticity flow patterns. When comparison is possible, the present computations are found to compare favourably with published experimental and numerical results. The present results seem to indicate the existence of a critical α value of about 2 when a closed streamline circulating around the cylinder begins to appear. Below this critical α, Karman vortex shedding exists, separation points can be found, the mean lift and drag coefficients and Strouhal number increase almost linearly with α. Above α ≈ 2, the region enclosed by the dividing closed streamline grows in size, Karman vortex shedding ceases, the flow structure, pressure and shear stress distributions around the cylinder tend towards self-similarity with increase α, and lift and drag coefficients approach asymptotic values. The optimum lift to drag ratio occurs at α ≈ 2. The present investigation confirms Prandtls postulation of the presence of limiting lift force at high α, and thus the usefulness of the Magnus effect in lift generation is limited. The results show that the present method can be used to calculate not only the global characteristics of the separated flow, but also the precise evolution with time of the fine structure of the flow field.

Dynamic motion of red blood cells in simple shear flow

A three-dimensional numerical model is proposed to simulate the dynamic motion of red blood cells (RBCs) in simple shear flow. The RBCs are approximated by ghost cells consisting of Newtonian liquid drops enclosed by Skalak membranes which take into account the membrane shear elasticity and the membrane area incompressibility. The RBCs have an initially biconcave discoid resting shape, and the internal liquid is assumed to have the same physical properties as the matrix fluid. The simulation is based on a hybrid method, in which the immersed boundary concept is introduced into the framework of the lattice Boltzmann method, and a finite element model is incorporated to obtain the forces acting on the nodes of the cell membrane which is discretized into flat triangular elements. The dynamic motion of RBCs is investigated in simple shear flow under a broad range of shear rates. At large shear rates, the cells are found to carry out a swinging motion, in which periodic inclination oscillation and shape deform...

On the equivalence of generalized differential quadrature and highest order finite difference scheme

Abstract It is shown in this paper that the global method of generalized differential quadrature (GDQ) is equivalent to the highest order finite difference scheme, which is the extension of low order, finite difference schemes. The effect of grid point distribution on the accuracy of numerical results is studied by two numerical examples. The results showed that the ability to alter the grid point distribution in the GDQ method is an important feature to obtain accurate numerical solutions in certain problems.

STEADY FLOW DYNAMICS OF PROSTHETIC AORTIC HEART VALVES : A COMPARATIVE EVALUATION WITH PIV TECHNIQUES

Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), capable of providing full-field measurement of velocities and flow stresses, has become an invaluable tool in studying flow behaviour in prosthetic heart valves. This method was used to evaluate the performances of four prosthetic heart valves; a porcine bioprostheses, a caged ball valve, and two single leaflet tilting disc valves with different opening angles. Flow visualization techniques, combined with velocity vector fields and Reynolds stresses mappings in the aortic root obtained from PIV, and pressure measurements were used to give an overall picture of the flow field of the prosthetic heart valves under steady flow conditions. The porcine bioprostheses exhibited the highest pressure loss and Reynolds stresses of all the valves tested. This was mainly due to the reduction in orifice area caused by the valve mounting ring and the valve stents. For the tilting disc valves, a larger opening angle resulted in a smoother flow profile, and thus lower Reynolds stresses and pressure drops. The St. Vincent valve exhibited the lowest pressure drop and Reynolds stresses.

Lattice Boltzmann study of droplet motion inside a grooved channel

A droplet moving inside a grooved channel is studied by using a new lattice Boltzmann model for multiphase flows with large density ratio. A constant body force is applied to drive the droplet. Flows under different surface tensions, driving forces, density ratios, wall wettabilities, and groove geometries are investigated. It is found that the drag on the droplet and the flow pattern are strongly affected by the wall wettability and topography when the system scale is small. The effects of the driving force on the droplet are investigated through comparison of two different ways of applying it. Besides, the density ratio is varied over a wide range to assess its effects in the present setup. Special attention is paid to grooved hydrophilic walls which tend to enhance the droplet-wall contact. For such walls, two distinctive types of shape of the interface inside the groove are found and series of numerical investigations are carried out to find the critical wall contact angle, groove width and depth that...

A time-resolved hot-wire shear stress probe for turbulent flow: use of laminar flow calibration

A specially-designed rotating rig for producing near Couette flow was used in the calibration of a marginally elevated hot-wire shear stress probe. The probe was then used for measurements in both the turbulent boundary layer and pipe flows. Results showed that the mean wall shear stress can be accurately predicted and the near wall statistical quantities of intensity, skewness and flatness of shear stress fluctuations concurred well with previous works, thereby supporting the notion of a time-resolved shear stress probe for turbulent flows.

Hybrid multiple-relaxation-time lattice-Boltzmann finite-difference method for axisymmetric multiphase flows

We propose a hybrid lattice-Boltzmann finite-difference method to simulate axisymmetric multiphase flows. The hydrodynamics is simulated by the lattice-Boltzmann equations with the multiple-relaxation-time (MRT) collision model and suitable forcing terms that account for the interfacial tension and axisymmetric effects. The interface dynamics is captured by the finitedifference solution of the convective Cahn–Hilliard equation. This method is applied to simulate a quiescent drop, an oscillating drop, a drop spreading on a dry surface and a drop accelerated by a constant body force. It is validated through comparisons of the computed results for these problems with analytical solutions or numerical solutions by other different methods. It is shown that the MRT-based method is able to handle more challenging cases than that with the single-relaxation-time collision model for axisymmetric multiphase flows due to its improved stability.

Cavitation phenomena in mechanical heart valves: the role of squeeze flow velocity and contact area on cavitation initiation between two impinging rods

In this study, the closing dynamics of two impinging rods were experimentally analyzed to simulate the cavitation phenomena associated with mechanical heart valve closure. The purpose of this study was to investigate the cavitation phenomena with respect to squeeze flow between two impinging surfaces and the parameter that influences cavitation inception. High-speed flow imaging was employed to visualize and identify regions of cavitation. The images obtained favored squeeze flow as an important mechanism in cavitation inception. A correlation study of the effects of impact velocities, contact areas and squeeze flow velocity on cavitation inception showed that increasing impact velocities results in an increase in the risk of cavitation. It was also shown that for similar impact velocities, regions near the point of impact were found to cavitate later for those with smaller contact areas. It was found that the decrease in contact areas and squeeze flow velocities would delay the onset and reduce the intensity of cavitation. It is also interesting to note that the squeeze flow velocity alone does not provide an indication if cavitation inception will occur. This is corroborated by the wide range of published critical squeeze flow velocity required for cavitation inception. It should be noted that the temporal acceleration of fluid, often neglected in the literature, can also play an important role on cavitation inception for unsteady flow phenomenon. This is especially true in mechanical heart valves, where for the same leaflet closing velocity, valves with a seat stop were observed to cavitate earlier. Based on these results, important inferences may be made to the design of mechanical heart valves with regards to cavitation inception.

Time-resolved near-wall hot-wire measurements: use of laminar flow wall correction curve and near-wall calibration technique

This work describes the use of the laminar flow wall correction method and near-wall calibration technique to account for the influence of wall effects on near-wall hot-wire measurements thereby enabling the realization of a true instantaneous velocity field. Most previous works for near-wall hot-wire correction have only concentrated on obtaining the true mean velocity. Experiments were carried out with different wall substrates in both turbulent channel and boundary layer flows. The corrected instantaneous velocity is evaluated in terms of the higher order moments of fluctuation and their respective distributions for comparison to published works in the literature. There is good agreement between results which supports the use of the said methods on near-wall hot-wire measurements to obtain a true instantaneous velocity field.