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. 2020 Feb;11(1):14-23.
doi: 10.1007/s13239-019-00444-z. Epub 2019 Dec 9.

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

W H Ho  1   2 , I J Tshimanga  1 , M N Ngoepe  3 , M C Jermy  4 , P H Geoghegan  5   6
Affiliations

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

W H Ho et al. Cardiovasc Eng Technol. 2020 Feb.

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.

Keywords: 3D printing; Additive manufacturing; Bio-fluids; Cerebral aneurysm; Experimental fluid dynamics; Flow phantom; Haemodynamics; In vitro experimentation; PIV; Particle image velocimetry; Refractive-matched.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Idealised model of a cerebral aneurysm, which is modelled as a sphere.
Figure 2
Figure 2
3D printed flow phantom of idealised geometry before (a) and after (b) polishing and spraying.
Figure 3
Figure 3
CAD (i) and actual printed model (ii) of a physiologically realistic geometry.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Matching of refractive index to printed phantom.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Viscosity measurements of the working fluid.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Channel width test sample (all dimensions in mm).
Figure 7
Figure 7
PIV images of the idealised and physiologically realistic models at various stages of the pre cross-correlation process.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Flow vectors for idealised model.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Idealised representation of the final print material between (a) Polyjet and (b) SLA processes.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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