Ce travail expérimental s’intéresse à l’écoulement en aval d’un swirler statique court. L’induction d’un mouvement de swirl est une solution connue pour augmenter le gradient pariétal de vitesse. L’augmentation du frottement pariétal présente un intérêt industriel dans les échangeurs de chaleur pour accroître leurs potentiels de transfert de chaleur et diminuer leurs vitesses d’encrassement. Nous proposons d’approfondir la connaissance des écoulements avec swirl décroissant à faibles nombres de Reynolds pour lesquels l’intérêt énergétique est a priori plus important. Dans un premier temps, le champ d’écoulement est caractérisé à l’aide de méthodes optiques, pour identifier le type de tourbillon caractérisant le swirl. Dans un second temps, la méthode électrochimique est utilisée pour mesurer le frottement pariétal instationnaire. Par analogie, ces mesures permettent d’obtenir une première estimation du transfert de chaleur en écoulement anisotherme. / This experimental work is interested in understanding the flow downstream a short static swirler. Inducing a swirl motion is a known solution to increase the wall velocity gradient. The increase in wall shear stress is useful in industrial heat exchangers in order to enhance their heat transfer capabilities and reduce their fouling rates. We try to go deeper into knowledge of decaying swirl flows, for low Reynolds number for which energy interest is greater a priori. First, we study the flow field with optical methods in order to identify type of vortex characteristics of the swirl. Second, electrochemical method is used to measure the unsteady wall shear stress. By analogy, these measurements give a first estimate of the heat transfer for the case of non-isothermal flows.

The thesis deals with the problem of friction during rapid transient 1-D flows in a pipe caused by water hammers. The evolution of the wall shear stress is interpreted in terms of two steps. The first step is the dramatic change of the wall shear stress during the passage of the pressure wave; the corresponding new value of the shear stress is much greater than the value predicted in steady-state. The second step, which begins after the passage of the pressure wave, is a relaxation process; here the shear stress decreases, tending to the new steady-state value corresponding to the new average velocity. The Extended Irreversible Thermodynamics theory is proposed as a tool to model the wall shear stress during the relaxation process. The Friction Relaxation Model presented in this thesis describes both steps of the evolution of the wall shear stress during water hammers, and therefore it enables to take into account the information about the velocity gradient at the wall, which is otherwise not available in 1D modelling.

Phase-contrast magnetic resonance imaging (PC-MRI) is a powerful tool for measuring blood flow and has a wide range of cardiovascular applications. Simulation of PC-MRI from numerical flow data would be useful for addressing the data quality of PC-MRI measurements and to study and understand different artifacts. It would also make it possible to optimize imaging parameters prior to the PC-MRI measurements and to evaluate different methods for measuring wall shear stress. Based on previous studies a PC-MRI simulation tool was developed. An Eulerian-Lagrangian approach was used to solve the problem. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) data calculated on a fix structured mesh (Eulerian point of view) were used as input. From the CFD data spin particle trajectories were computed. The magnetization of the spin particle is then evaluated as the particle travels along its trajectory (Lagrangian point of view). The simulated PC-MRI data were evaluated by comparison with PC-MRI measurements on an in vitro phantom. Results indicate that the PC-MRI simulation tool functions well. However, further development is required to include some of the artifacts. Decreasing the computation time will make more accurate and powerful simulations possible. Several suggestions for improvements are presented in this report.

Atherosclerosis is a multifactoral inflammatory disease that occurs in predisposed locations in the vasculature where blood flow is disturbed. In vitro studies have implicated reactive oxygen species as mediators of mechanotransduction leading to inflammatory protein expression and ultimately atherogenesis. While these cell culture-based studies have provided enormous insight into the effects of WSS on endothelial biology, the applicability to the in vivo setting is questionable. We hypothesized that low magnitude oscillatory WSS acts through reactive oxygen species (ROS) to increase expression of inflammatory cell adhesion molecules leading to the development of atherosclerotic lesions. The overall objective for this thesis was to develop an in vivo flow model that produces low magnitude oscillatory WSS which could be used to investigate the in vivo molecular mechanisms of mechanotransduction. We created a novel aortic coarctation model using a shape memory nitinol clip. The clip reproducibly constricts the aorta creating a narrowing of the lumen resulting in a stenosis. This mechanical constraint produces a region of flow separation downstream from the coarctation. We have characterized the coarctation in terms of the efficacy, pressure loss, and fluid dynamics. We then measured the endothelial response of shear sensitive redox and inflammatory markers. Lastly, we utilized genetically modified mice and mice treated with pharmacological inhibitors to investigate the mechanisms involved in the expression of WSS induced inflammatory and redox markers. We found that inducing a coarctation of the aorta using a nitinol clip uniquely created a hemodynamic environment of low magnitude oscillatory WSS without a significant change in blood pressure. Using this model we found that the in vivo endothelial phenotype associated with acutely disturbed flow was characterized by increased production of superoxide and increased expression of select inflammatory proteins. In comparison, the phenotype associated with chronically disturbed flow was characterized by a more modest increase in superoxide and increased levels of multiple inflammatory proteins. We determined that in regions of acutely disturbed flow in vivo, VCAM-1 expression was not modulated by reactive oxygen species. Additionally, p47 phox-dependent NADPH Oxidase activity does not have a functional role in WSS induced superoxide generation in the endothelium. In summary, we have created a novel murine model of low magnitude oscillatory WSS that can be used to investigate the in vivo molecular mechanisms associated with atherogenesis. While previous data obtained in vitro indicated that depletion of an individual ROS was sufficient to inhibit flow-induced inflammatory protein expression, our findings, to the contrary, showed that antioxidant treatment in vivo does not inhibit shear-dependent inflammatory protein expression. Our results suggest that atherogenesis in the in vivo environment is significantly more complicated than the in vitro environment and that parallel pathways and compensatory mechanisms are likely activated in vivo in response to WSS. These results could have significant implications in the efficacy of antioxidant treatment of atherosclerosis and could explain the complexity of results observed in clinical trials.

<p>Phase-contrast magnetic resonance imaging (PC-MRI) is a powerful tool for measuring blood flow and has a wide range of cardiovascular applications. Simulation of PC-MRI from numerical flow data would be useful for addressing the data quality of PC-MRI measurements and to study and understand different artifacts. It would also make it possible to optimize imaging parameters prior to the PC-MRI measurements and to evaluate different methods for measuring wall shear stress.</p><p>Based on previous studies a PC-MRI simulation tool was developed. An Eulerian-Lagrangian approach was used to solve the problem. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) data calculated on a fix structured mesh (Eulerian point of view) were used as input. From the CFD data spin particle trajectories were computed. The magnetization of the spin particle is then evaluated as the particle travels along its trajectory (Lagrangian point of view).</p><p>The simulated PC-MRI data were evaluated by comparison with PC-MRI measurements on an in vitro phantom. Results indicate that the PC-MRI simulation tool functions well. However, further development is required to include some of the artifacts. Decreasing the computation time will make more accurate and powerful simulations possible. Several suggestions for improvements are presented in this report.</p>

The blood is a complex fluid that contains, in addition to water, cells, macro-molecules and a large number of smaller molecules. The physical properties of the blood are therefore the result of non-linear interactions of its constituents, which are influenced by the local flow field conditions. Hence, the local blood viscosity is a function of the local concentration of the blood constituents and the local flow field itself. This study considers the flow of blood-like fluids in generalised 90-degree bifurcating pipes and patient-specific arterial bifurcations relevant to the large aortic branches in humans. It is shown that the Red Blood Cell (RBC) distribution in the region of bifurcations may lead to large changes in the viscosity, with implications on the concentrations of the various cells in the blood plasma. This in turn implies that the flow in the near wall regions is more difficult to estimate and predict than that under the assumption of a homogeneous fluid. The rheological properties of blood are complex and are difficult to measure, since the results depend on the measuring equipment and the inherent flow conditions. We attempt to model the viscosity of water containing different volume fractions of non-deforming RBC-like particles in tubes. The apparent viscosities of the mixtures obtained from these model experiments have been compared to the predictions of the different rheological models found in the literature. The same rheological models have also been used in the different simulations, where the local RBC concentration and local shear rate are used in the viscosity models. The flow simulations account for the non-linearity due to coupling between the flow and fluid rheology. Furthermore, from a physiological perspective, it is shown that oscillatory wall shear stresses are affected by changes in RBC concentration in the regions of the bifurcation associated with atherogenesis. The intrinsic shear thinning rheological property of the blood, in conjunction with stagnation in separated flows, may be responsible for elevated temporal wall shear stress gradients (TWSSG) influencing endothelial cell behaviour, which has been postulated to play a role in the development of atherosclerosis. The blood-like fluid properties along with variations in the RBC concentration could also lead to variations in the developing flow structures in the larger arteries that could influence the work the heart has to bear. / <p>QC 20131206</p>

In this work, we have developed user interactive capabilities that allow us to perform segmentation and manipulation of patient-specific geometries required for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) studies, entirely in image domain and within a single platform of ‘IAFEMesh'. Within this toolkit we have added commonly required manipulation capabilities for performing CFD on segmented objects by utilizing libraries like ITK, VTK and KWWidgets. With the advent of these capabilities we can now manipulate a single patient specific image into a set of possible cases we seek to study; which is difficult to do in commercially available software like VMTK, Slicer, MITK etc. due to their limited manipulation capabilities. Levelset representation of the manipulated geometries can be simulated in our flow solver (SCIMITAR-3D) without creating any surface or volumetric mesh. This image-levelset-flow framework offers few advantages. 1) We don't need to deal with the problems associated with mesh quality, edge connectivity related to mesh models, 2) and manipulations like boolean operation result in smooth, physically realizable entities which is challanging in mesh domain. We have validated our image-levelset-flow setup with the known results from previous studies. We have modified the algorithm by Krissian et al. and implemented it for the segmentation of Type-A aortic dissection. Finally, we implemented these capabilities to study the hemodynamics in Type-A aortic dissection. Our image based framework is a first of its kind and the hemodynamic study of Type-A dissection too is first study onto the best of our knowledge.

Birds uniquely produce sound through a vocal organ known as a syrinx. The presence of wall shear stress acting on the airway cells of any organism will affect how airway cells develop and multiply. Unique features of avian airway geometry and breathing pattern might have contributed to the development of the syrinx. This thesis examines wall shear stress in the trachea and first bronchi of avian geometries using computational fluid dynamics. The computational fluid dynamic simulations underwent grid- and time-independence studies and were validated using particle image velocimetry. Parameters such as bird size, bronchial branching angle, and breathing waveform were examined to determine conditions that contributed to higher wall shear stress. Both simplified and CT scan-derived respiratory geometries were examined. Maximum wall shear stress for the simplified geometries was found to be highest during the inspiratory phase of breathing and was highest near the pessulus. Maximum wall shear stress in the CT scan-derived geometries was less phase-dependent and was highest near constrictions in the airway. Comparison between scanned and simplified geometry simulations revealed significant differences in wall shear stress magnitudes and flow features. If wall shear stress is found to be important in the development of the syrinx or the advantage of a syrinx, the thesis results are anticipated to aid in characterizing conditions that would have contributed to the development of the syrinx or advantages of syringeal vocal fold position over tracheal vocal fold position.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The thesis includes two application studies of computational fluid dynamics. The first is new and efficient drug delivery to the posterior part of the eye, a growing health necessity worldwide. Current treatment of eye diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), relies on repeated intravitreal injections of drug-containing solutions. Such a drug delivery has significant cant drawbacks, including short drug life, vital medical service, and high medical costs. In this study, we explore a new approach of controlled drug delivery by introducing unique porous implants. Computational modeling contains physiological and anatomical traits. We simulate the IgG1 Fab drug delivery to the posterior eye to evaluate the effectiveness of the porous implants to control the drug delivery. The computational model was validated by established computation results from independent studies and experimental data. Overall, the results indicate that therapeutic drug levels in the posterior eye are sustained for eight weeks, similar to those performed with intravitreal injection of the same drug. We evaluate the effects of the porous implant on the time evaluation of the drug concentrations in the sclera, choroid, and retina layers of the eye. Subsequent simulations were carried out with varying porosity values of a porous episcleral implant. Our computational results reveal that the time evolution of drug concentration is distinctively correlated to drug source location and pore size. The response of this porous implant for controlled drug delivery applications was examined. A correlation between porosity and fluid properties for the porous implants was revealed in this study. The second application lays in the computational modeling of the oscillating

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