Proposal for Numerical Benchmarking of Fluid-Structure Interaction in Cerebral Aneurysms

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new benchmark for fluid-structure interaction modeling in cerebral aneurysms, highlighting the importance of coupling hemodynamics with vessel tissue to improve rupture risk assessment.

Contribution

It presents a novel benchmark setting for evaluating aneurysm models with fluid-structure interaction, including detailed geometric, flow, and comparison data.

Findings

Flow patterns change significantly with FSI modeling.

Rigid-wall models may underestimate rupture risk.

Coupled models provide more realistic hemodynamic insights.

Abstract

Computational fluid dynamics is intensively used to deepen the understanding of aneurysm growth and rupture in the attempt to support physicians during therapy planning. Numerous studies have assumed fully-rigid vessel walls in their simulations, whose sole hemodynamics may fail to provide a satisfactory criterion for rupture risk assessment. Moreover, direct in-vivo observations of intracranial aneurysm pulsation have been recently reported, encouraging the development of fluid-structure interaction for their modelling and for new assessments. In this work, we describe a new fluid-structure interaction benchmark setting for the careful evaluation of different aneurysm shapes. The studied configurations consist of three real aneurysm domes positioned on a toroidal channel. All geometric features, meshing characteristics, flow quantities, comparisons with a rigid-wall model and corresponding plots are provided. Reported results emphasize the alteration of flow patterns and hemodynamic descriptors when moving from the rigid-wall model to the complete fluid-structure interaction framework, thereby underlining the importance of the coupling between hemodynamics and the surrounding vessel tissue.