Evaluation of a Desktop 3D Printed Rigid Refractive-Indexed-Matched Flow Phantom for PIV Measurements on Cerebral Aneurysms

Abstract

Purpose Fabrication of a suitable flow model or phantom is critical to the study of biomedical fluid dynamics using optical flow visualization and measurement methods. The main difficulties arise from the optical properties of the model material, accuracy of the geometry and ease of fabrication. Methods Conventionally an investment casting method has been used, but recently advancements in additive manufacturing techniques such as 3D printing have allowed the flow model to be printed directly with minimal post-processing steps. This study presents results of an investigation into the feasibility of fabrication of such models suitable for particle image velocimetry (PIV) using a common 3D printing Stereolithography process and photopolymer resin. Results An idealised geometry of a cerebral aneurysm was printed to demonstrate its applicability for PIV experimentation. The material was shown to have a refractive index of 1.51, which can be refractive matched with a mixture of de-ionised water with ammonium thiocyanate (NH4SCN). The images were of a quality that after applying common PIV pre-processing techniques and a PIV cross-correlation algorithm, the results produced were consistent within the aneurysm when compared to previous studies. Conclusions This study presents an alternative low-cost option for 3D printing of a flow phantom suitable for flow visualization simulations. The use of 3D printed flow phantoms reduces the complexity, time and effort required compared to conventional investment casting methods by removing the necessity of a multi-part process required with investment casting techniques.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13239-019-00444-z
Divisions: College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > School of Engineering and Technology > Mechanical, Biomedical & Design
College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > Aston Institute of Urban Technology and the Environment (ASTUTE)
Additional Information: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
Uncontrolled Keywords: 3D printing,Additive manufacturing,Bio-fluids,Cerebral aneurysm,Experimental fluid dynamics,Flow phantom,Haemodynamics,In vitro experimentation,PIV,Particle image velocimetry,Refractive-matched,Biomedical Engineering,Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine
Publication ISSN: 1869-408X
Last Modified: 26 Mar 2024 08:14
Date Deposited: 08 Jun 2020 13:31
Full Text Link:
Related URLs: http://link.spr ... 239-019-00444-z (Publisher URL)
http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2020-02-01
Published Online Date: 2019-12-09
Accepted Date: 2019-11-20
Authors: Ho, W. H.
Tshimanga, I. J.
Ngoepe, M. N.
Jermy, M. C.
Geoghegan, P. H. (ORCID Profile 0000-0003-1224-0477)

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