title: Analysis of thoracic aorta hemodynamics using 3D particle tracking velocimetry and computational fluid dynamics.
abstract: Parallel to the massive use of image-based computational hemodynamics to study the complex flow establishing in the human aorta, the need for suitable experimental techniques and ad hoc cases for the validation and benchmarking of numerical codes has grown more and more. Here we present a study where the 3D pulsatile flow in an anatomically realistic phantom of human ascending aorta is investigated both experimentally and computationally. The experimental study uses 3D particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) to characterize the flow field in vitro, while finite volume method is applied to numerically solve the governing equations of motion in the same domain, under the same conditions. Our findings show that there is an excellent agreement between computational and measured flow fields during the forward flow phase, while the agreement is poorer during the reverse flow phase. In conclusion, here we demonstrate that 3D PTV is very suitable for a detailed study of complex unsteady flows as in aorta and for validating computational models of aortic hemodynamics. In a future step, it will be possible to take advantage from the ability of 3D PTV to evaluate velocity fluctuations and, for this reason, to gain further knowledge on the process of transition to turbulence occurring in the thoracic aorta.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Diego
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gallo
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Utku
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Gülan
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonietta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Stefano
authors.affiliation: HPC and Innovation Unit, CINECA, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Raffaele
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ponzini
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Beat
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lüthi
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Holzner
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy. Electronic address: umberto.morbiducci@polito.it.
authors.forename: Umberto
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Morbiducci
mesh_terms: D001011:Aorta / Q000502:physiology*; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D006439:Hemodynamics; D006801:Humans; D057446:Hydrodynamics; D008953:Models, Anatomic; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D011673:Pulsatile Flow; D012212:Rheology / Q000379:methods
keywords: Aortic flow; Ascending aorta; Computational fluid dynamics; Hemodynamics; Particle tracking velocimetry