CFD in Biomedical Engineering

What is Biomedical Engineering?

Biomedical Engineering applies engineering principles to healthcare, aiming to enhance human health and quality of life. This interdisciplinary field utilizes various engineering branches to develop methods for diagnosing, treating, and preventing diseases. Given the significance of fluid dynamics in physiological processes, many biomedical devices and phenomena can be effectively studied using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation techniques. These simulations provide valuable insights into fluid behavior within the human body and in medical devices, contributing to advancements in healthcare technology.

Blood flow in the human body is highly complex. CFD simulation of the human heart presents a significant challenge due to its intricate details. Despite these difficulties, experts have made remarkable progress in this field, achieving simulations of human cardiovascular systems with impressive accuracy.

Applications of CFD in Biomedical Engineering

CFD plays a crucial role in Biomedical Engineering. Here’s an overview of its applications and importance:

• Respiratory system: The study of fluid flow in the human respiratory system is possible with CFD methods. Understanding how undesirable particles, such as those in cigarette smoke, move inside the lungs and where they settle helps specialists develop treatment methods.
• Cardiovascular studies: Studying blood flow inside the human body experimentally is a difficult task; that’s why CFD simulation is widely used to explore details in this field. Experts are currently investigating many phenomena related to blood circulation with CFD. For example, how fat deposits in veins and where they accumulate are being investigated using CFD methods. In cases where artificial organs are used in the circulatory system, ensuring proper blood flow, minimizing turbulence, and preventing material buildup inside the artificial organ can be studied with CFD simulations.
• Drug delivery systems: The transfer of drugs from outside the human body to the desired cells is a long process. In some cases, it is difficult to transfer certain drugs effectively, and experimental results show that the transfer is not done well. In these cases, CFD simulations are used to identify the problematic part of the process.
• Dialysis devices: In this device, the patient’s blood enters, the desired components are separated, and then the blood returns to the body. The entire process can be analyzed and optimized using CFD simulations.
• Artificial tissue: In many artificial tissues, the fluid flow moves, and the manufacturer must be sure that the artificial tissue reacts with the fluid flow like the real tissue, CFD simulations help a lot in solving this challenge.
• Cryopreservation: In some cases, to treat or preserve body parts, their temperature is lowered. For example, when transferring a heart from one person to another, the heart is placed on ice. Sometimes, the liquid inside the organ may freeze, and it is crucial to avoid damaging the organ during the freezing process. Conversely, there are instances where deliberately lowering the organ’s temperature can be beneficial. The study of heat transfer and fluid phase changes in these scenarios can be effectively conducted using CFD simulations.

Blood contains many particles, such as red blood cells, and the vessel walls have a porous structure. As the vessel diameter changes, the flow regime also changes. All these factors can be effectively simulated in ANSYS Fluent.

Simulation of Biomedical Engineering Applications by ANSYS Fluent

In biomedical engineering applications, the most advanced CFD methods and capabilities are used. For example:

Porous media

From lung structure to body tissues and vessel walls, all are examples of porous media, which require considerable expertise and experience for accurate simulation. ANSYS Fluent offers users the latest technology and the most advanced algorithms and equations for simulating porous media.

Porous CFD Simulation

Flow regime

Whether the flow is smooth or turbulent has a significant impact on fluid phenomena. ANSYS Fluent is well-suited for simulating both flow regimes. For turbulent flow, it supports various RANS (Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes) and LES (Large Eddy Simulation) methods, with options to adjust their fine details.

Multiphase flow

Almost all body fluids are multiphase, which makes accurate simulation essential. The precise movement of particles, such as red blood cells, within body fluids is crucial for their proper study. ANSYS Fluent offers a wide range of capabilities for simulating multiphase flow, providing users with impressive tools for this complex task.

Multiphase CFD

Heat transfer

The temperature of body parts affects their function. ANSYS Fluent can solve all heat transfer models simultaneously with the fluid flow equations, providing a comprehensive approach to understanding thermal effects in biomedical applications.

Heat Transfer CFD

UDFs

In ANSYS Fluent, it is possible to write User-Defined Functions (UDFs) to specify material properties and model complex phenomena. Many body fluids are non-Newtonian, and ANSYS Fluent effectively simulates these using UDFs.

Fluid flow velocity contour in a vessel without fat accumulation (left) and in a vessel with fat accumulation (right). Adopted from “Effect of Fat Deposition on Aorta Flow CFD Simulation”

UDF CFD

CFDLAND expertise in Biomedical Engineering Applications Modeling Using ANSYS Fluent Software

Our experts have completed numerous projects in the field of biomedical engineering at CFDLAND. You can view some of our completed projects in this field at the top of the page. Additionally, check out all our ready projects in CFD SHOP, perhaps one of them will meet your needs.

We have the necessary experience and expertise to simulate biomedical engineering projects with all their complexities. Trust us and place your CFD simulation orders on order project. You will be impressed by the speed and quality of our work.