Numerical simulation of the aqueous humor flow in the eye drainage system; a healthy and pathological condition comparison

Abstract

The present work describes the motion of aqueous humor through the anterior chamber and the trabecular drainage system, considering several distributions of the collector channels. The 3D computational model, implemented into the open-source software, was reconstructed from an optical coherence tomography. The model has been employed to simulate the aqueous humor dynamics considering buoyancy effects. The presence of the anterior chamber, the trabecular meshwork, and the Schlemm's canal were taken into consideration with 14 different distributions of collector channels. The influence of collector channels position on the intraocular pressure and shear stress has been analyzed, for a healthy and a glaucomatous condition. Aqueous humor velocity, pressure, temperature, wall shear stress, skin friction coefficient and Nusselt number, are presented for the different cases. The results indicate that the position of the collector channels has a strong influence on the wall shear stress on the Schlemm's canal and collector channels.

Keywords: Anterior chamber; collector channels; glaucoma; intraocular pressure; segmental flow.