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Computational Mechanics

, Volume 45, Issue 1, pp 77–89 | Cite as

Computational fluid–structure interaction: methods and application to a total cavopulmonary connection

  • Yuri BazilevsEmail author
  • M.-C. Hsu
  • D. J. Benson
  • S. Sankaran
  • A. L. Marsden
Open Access
Original Paper
First Online:

Abstract

The Fontan procedure is a surgery that is performed on single-ventricle heart patients, and, due to the wide range of anatomies and variations among patients, lends itself nicely to study by advanced numerical methods. We focus on a patient-specific Fontan configuration, and perform a fully coupled fluid–structure interaction (FSI) analysis of hemodynamics and vessel wall motion. To enable physiologically realistic simulations, a simple approach to constructing a variable-thickness blood vessel wall description is proposed. Rest and exercise conditions are simulated and rigid versus flexible vessel wall simulation results are compared. We conclude that flexible wall modeling plays an important role in predicting quantities of hemodynamic interest in the Fontan connection. To the best of our knowledge, this paper presents the first three-dimensional patient-specific fully coupled FSI analysis of a total cavopulmonary connection that also includes large portions of the pulmonary circulation.

Keywords

Blood flow Fontan surgery Fluid–structure interaction Variable wall thickness Hyperelasticity Wall shear stress 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at the University of Texas at Austin for providing HPC resources that have contributed to the research results reported within this paper. Support of Teragrid Grant No.MCAD7S032 is gratefully acknowledged. Alison Marsden was supported by a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award at the Scientific Interface, and by an American Heart Association Beginning Grant in Aid award.We would also like to thank Jeff Feinstein for his valuable input on the clinical relevance of the reported simulations.

Open Access

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, nand reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.

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Copyright information

© The Author(s) 2009

Authors and Affiliations

  • Yuri Bazilevs
    • 1
    Email author
  • M.-C. Hsu
    • 1
  • D. J. Benson
    • 1
  • S. Sankaran
    • 2
  • A. L. Marsden
    • 2
  1. 1.Department of Structural EngineeringUniversity of California, San DiegoLa JollaUSA
  2. 2.Department of Mechanical and Aerospace EngineeringUniversity of California, San DiegoLa JollaUSA

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