Mesh Generation of High-Order Elements: Applications to Computational Haemodynamics

Numerical Grid Generation in Computational Field Simulations, The International Society of Grid Generation, pp.275-284, September 2000

MESHING
RESEARCH
CORNER

Abstract

The failure of corrective surgical procedures such as arterial by-pass grafting is often due to the development of diseases linked to the response of the arterial wall to flow-induced shear stresses. Our methodology for the prediction of such quantities in arterial flows is based on the integration of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques. The CFD flow solver uses unconstructed meshes of high-order h-p spectral finite elements for the solution of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. MRI techniques provide measurements of the arterial wall geometry and velocity profiles as a set of cross-sectional grayscale images. This paper describes the approach adopted for the reconstruction of the geometry from a set of MRI images and for the generation of high order element meshes. These will be illustrated using a practical example of application in haemodynamics: the simulation of the flow in an arterial by-pass graft.