Evangelos Boutsianis

Laboratory of Thermodynamics in Emerging

Technologies,
Department of Mechanical and Process
Engineering,
ETH Zurich,
8092 Zurich, Switzerland
Michele Guala
Institute of Environmental Engineering,
ETH Zurich,
8092 Zurich, Switzerland
Ufuk Olgac
Laboratory of Thermodynamics in Emerging
Technologies,
Department of Mechanical and Process
Engineering,
ETH Zurich,
8092 Zurich, Switzerland
Simon Wildermuth
Institute of Diagnostic Radiology,
University Hospital of Zurich,
Raemistrasse 100,
8091 Zurich, Switzerland
Klaus Hoyer
Institute of Environmental Engineering,
ETH Zurich,
8092 Zurich, Switzerland
Yiannis Ventikos
Department of Engineering Science,
University of Oxford,
Parks Road,
Oxford OX1 3PJ, UK
Dimos Poulikakos1
Laboratory of Thermodynamics in Emerging
Technologies,
Department of Mechanical and Process
Engineering,
ETH Zurich,
8092 Zurich, Switzerland
e-mail: dimos.poulikakos@ethz.ch
CFD and PTV Steady Flow
Investigation in an Anatomically
Accurate Abdominal Aortic
Aneurysm
There is considerable interest in computational and experimental flow investigations
within abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs). This task stipulates advanced grid genera-
tion techniques and cross-validation because of the anatomical complexity. The purpose
of this study is to examine the feasibility of velocity measurements by particle tracking
velocimetry (PTV) in realistic AAA models. Computed tomography and rapid prototyping
were combined to digitize and construct a silicone replica of a patient-specific AAA.
Three-dimensional velocity measurements were acquired using PTV under steady aver-
aged resting boundary conditions. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were
subsequently carried out with identical boundary conditions. The computational grid was
created by splitting the luminal volume into manifold and nonmanifold subsections. They
were filled with tetrahedral and hexahedral elements, respectively. Grid independency
was tested on three successively refined meshes. Velocity differences of about 1% in all
three directions existed mainly within the AAA sack. Pressure revealed similar variations,
with the sparser mesh predicting larger values. PTV velocity measurements were taken
along the abdominal aorta and showed good agreement with the numerical data. The
results within the aneurysm neck and sack showed average velocity variations of about
5% of the mean inlet velocity. The corresponding average differences increased for all
velocity components downstream the iliac bifurcation to as much as 15%. The two do-
mains differed slightly due to flow-induced forces acting on the silicone model. Velocity
quantification through narrow branches was problematic due to decreased signal to noise
ratio at the larger local velocities. Computational wall pressure and shear fields are also
presented. The agreement between CFD simulations and the PTV experimental data was
confirmed by three-dimensional velocity comparisons at several locations within the in-
vestigated AAA anatomy indicating the feasibility of this approach.
关DOI: 10.1115/1.3002886兴
Keywords: abdominal aortic aneurysm, particle tracking velocimetry, computational
fluid dynamics, grid generation, hemodynamics

Introduction pathological boundary conditions. The plausible connection of

Abdominal aortic aneurysms 共AAAs兲 form secondary to athero-
sclerosis due to atrophy or necrosis of the arterial media. Several
biomechanical parameters can be taken into account to formulate
case specific indicators of the risk of rupture 关1兴. Computational
fluid dynamics 共CFD兲 is used to quantify relevant hemodynamics
indices based on velocity, wall shear stress 共WSS兲, and pressure
within the aneurismal sack 关2,3兴. This is a task of increased diffi-
culty necessitating advanced grid generation techniques and ex-
perimental cross-validation because of the complexity of the un-
derlying anatomy and the need for in vivo physiological and/or
1
Corresponding author.
Contributed by the Bioengineering Division of ASME for publication in the JOUR-
NAL OF BIOMECHANICAL ENGINEERING. Manuscript received July 18, 2007; final manu-
script received June 27, 2008; published online November 21, 2008. Review con-
ducted by B. Barry Lieber.
atherosclerosis with regions of low and oscillating WSS 关4,5兴 sus-
tains the wide interest in arterial fluid mechanics.
Hemodynamics in the Physiologic Abdominal Aorta. Studies
in the physiological abdominal aorta preceded those of AAA
cases. Recent CFD investigations include Lee and Chen 关6兴 who
produced steady three-dimensional simulations in a rigid model of
the abdominal aorta that included tapering, the celiac trunk, the
renal and iliac bifurcations, and the superior and inferior mesen-
teric arteries. Steady flow simulations revealed basic branching
flow characteristics, i.e., WSS maxima located around bifurcation
apexes and low WSS regions with possible recirculation along the
lateral walls depending on the applied mass discharge ratios. Fur-
ther regions of low WSS with or without recirculation are pre-
dicted along the posterior aortic wall at the level of the diaphragm
due to the visceral branches. Taylor et al. 关7,8兴 conducted pulsatile
simulations under resting and exercise conditions in a similar rigid

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 model, which included the physiological lumbar curvature. Under
resting conditions, a recirculation zone formed along the posterior
wall of the infrarenal aorta in late systole lasting through diastole
as well. This zone, in addition to the region between the superior
and inferior mesenteric arteries upon the anterior wall, correlated
well with low time-averaged WSS and with high WSS temporal
oscillations.
Multibranched stiff aortic models have been investigated ex-
perimentally with a variety of techniques. Ku et al. 关9兴 and Moore
et al. 关10兴 used a blown glass model of the physiological abdomi-
nal aorta for flow visualization by dye injections under various
steady and pulsatile flow regimes. Pedersen et al. 关11兴 produced
transient flow visualizations by photographing the path lines of
neutrally buoyant particles and subsequently 关12兴 used the same
model and flow conditions to quantify instantaneous orthogonal
velocity components along the aortic centerline with laser Doppler
anemometry 共LDA兲. Noninvasive in vivo velocity quantification
in the abdominal aorta was benefited by development of special-
ized magnetic resonance 共MR兲 procedures 关13兴. Moore and Ku
关14,15兴 successfully acquired axial pulsatile velocity measure-
ments by MR in the same glass aortic model and under the bound-
ary conditions that were used for flow visualization in Refs. 关9兴
and 关10兴. A comparison of in vitro and in vivo axial velocity
measurements by MR 关16兴 revealed good qualitative agreement
but at the same time underlined the importance of actual in vivo
boundary conditions.
Hemodynamics in Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms. CFD in-
vestigations in AAA cases commenced with simplified branchless
three and/or two-dimensional axis-symmetrical models under
steady and unsteady boundary conditions for a physiologically
realistic range of Reynolds numbers 关17,18兴. The importance of
asymmetry was pointed out by three-dimensional investigations in
single and double aneurysm geometries by Finol et al. 关19兴 and
Kumar 关20兴, respectively. Asymmetry develops mainly because
the posterior wall of the infrarenal aorta is constrained by the
presence of the vertebral column. These studies have indicated
that recirculation zones with annular vortex growth and shedding
are present within the aneurismal sack during the systolic decel-
eration and diastole. Low and oscillatory WSS regions reside
along most of the aneurismal wall depending on the degree of
asymmetry. The highest WSS and WSS gradients are reached at
the distal end. On the other hand, wall pressure remains nearly
uniform along the expansion. Significant pressure oscillation has
been reported at or near the distal aneurysm exit as well, indicat-
ing susceptibility to rupture.
Several researchers have undertaken experimental investiga-
tions in simplified transparent AAA models. Fukushima et al. 关21兴
visualized pulsatile flow in glass aneurysm models by releasing
disk shaped aluminum particles and photographing their trajecto-
ries. Asbury et al. 关22兴 utilized color Doppler imaging for visual-
ization and laser Doppler velocimetry 共LDV兲 to quantify axial
velocities within symmetric elliptic and rigid silicone AAA mod-
els under steady inflow conditions. LDV was also utilized to mea-
sure centerline velocity in pulsatile experiments at realistic resting
and exercise inflows by Egelhoff et al. 关23兴 in a wide range of
symmetric AAA sizes in addition to an asymmetric one. In vivo
pulsatile resting flow conditions were successfully simulated in
fusiform AAAs by Peattie et al. 关24兴. This investigation presented
two-dimensional transient velocity data across the longitudinal
center-plane by a dual-beam LDV system. Digital particle image
velocimetry 共PIV兲 was used by Bluestein et al. 关25兴 under steady
conditions in another axis-symmetric AAA model at a 10:1 scale
to enhance resolution. Nevertheless, refractive index mismatching
produced significant optical distortion near the wall. Unsteady
PIV velocity quantifications were reported by Yu et al. 关26兴 under
sinusoidal inflow conditions along the longitudinal symmetry
plane of axis-symmetric AAA Pyrex glass models.
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Scope of the Present Investigation. Modern medical imaging
modalities, i.e., computed tomography 共CT兲 and magnetic reso-
nance imaging 共MRI兲, enable the reconstruction of patient-specific
arterial geometry. Anatomically accurate AAA reconstructions
were used to simulate blood flow dynamics 关27兴, or pure mechani-
cal wall stress distributions 关28兴 and more recently fluid-solid in-
teractions 关29,30兴. Unstructured tetrahedral grids are the intuitive
option but more efficient techniques suited to patient-specific ana-
tomical characteristics are now appearing. Wolters et al. 关30兴 put
forward a hexahedral meshing technique that adapts a standard-
ized bifurcated mesh according to the centerlines and the bound-
ary surface of the segmented AAA.
Although much has been done on the experimental front, there
is still considerable room for improvement. MR velocimetry is
usually hampered by long acquisition times, especially when all
three velocity components are interrogated, and suffers from in-
sufficient resolution both in in vivo and in vitro settings. PIV
methods achieve high spatial resolution but are inherently limited
to an essentially two-dimensional observation plane. LDV is a
very accurate three-dimensional velocimetry technique with high
temporal resolution. However, being a single point measurement,
it requires complex positioning hardware to fully resolve the ve-
locity field within a realistic AAA model.
An alternative is particle tracking velocimetry 共PTV兲, which is
a quantitative optical technique comprising of 共1兲 individual par-
ticle identification via stereoscopic matching, 共2兲 coordinate as-
signment in physical space via a ray tracing mathematical model
based on external and internal camera calibration parameters, and
共3兲 the repeated tracking of individual particles with time. PTV
relies on recording multiple synchronous images of the illumi-
nated particles within the flow field. Maas et al. 关31兴 enhanced
classical PTV exploiting digital image processing to determine
through photogrammetry the three-dimensional coordinates,
whereas Malik et al. 关32兴 implemented automated particle track-
ing schemes. This system was capable of determining coordinate
sets of some 1000 particles in a flow field at a time resolution of
25 datasets per second. This method was successfully used by
Virant and Dracos 关33兴 to obtain Lagrangian velocity fields and by
Luthi et al. 关34兴 for vorticity dynamics in turbulent flows. Kieft et
al. 关35兴 made measurements in the wake flow behind a heated
cylinder and validated its accuracy with the exact solution. In
these PTV configurations, the entire volumetric region of interest
is simultaneously illuminated and the particle trajectories are re-
corded. Recently, Hoyer et al. 关36兴 developed scanning particle
tracking velocimetry 共SPTV兲. In SPTV, the flow field is recorded
by sequential tomographic high-speed imaging of the region of
interest accomplishing tracking of an average of 3500 particles
per time step.
The purpose of this study is to examine the feasibility of veloc-
ity measurements by PTV in realistic AAA models. CFD simula-
tions are utilized by developing appropriate grid generation tech-
niques and are cross-validated by PTV experiments in an
anatomically accurate AAA replica under averaged steady resting
boundary conditions.
Methods
Anatomical Data Acquisition and Model Reconstruction. To
produce a realistic three-dimensional model of a patient’s
anatomy, CT-datasets were acquired by a four-row-detector
CT-scanner.2 The selected patient had a fusiform aneurysm in the
infrarenal aorta with a maximum diameter of approximately
5.5 cm. An event triggering protocol3 was used to start data ac-
quisition at a predefined level of opacification in a monitored re-
gion. In the present case, this region was placed inside the distal
thoracic aorta. Helical type data were captured at a rotation time
2
Somatom Volume Zoom, Siemens Medical Solution, Erlangen, Germany.
3
CARE Bolus System, Siemens Medical Solution, Forchheim, Germany.
Transactions of the ASME
 Table 1 Distribution of outlet volumetric flow rates

Average weight Distribution Volumetric flux

Outlet 共g兲 共%兲 共m3 / s兲

Sup. 654.5 10.817 1.821⫻ 10−5

mesenteric
Left renal 744.5 12.305 2.071⫻ 10−5
Right renal 738.5 12.206 2.055⫻ 10−5
Celiac 785.5 12.982 2.185⫻ 10−5
(a) Left ext. iliac 785.0 12.974 2.184⫻ 10−5
Left int. iliac 713.0 11.784 1.984⫻ 10−5
Right int. iliac 844.5 13.958 2.349⫻ 10−5
Right ext. iliac 785.0 12.974 2.184⫻ 10−5
Total 1.683⫻ 10−4

quired CT scans were segmented and smoothed as before to gen-

(b)
Fig. 1 Overview of the experimental setup. Panel „a…: Photo-
graph of the AAA model tank. The terminal branches are la-
beled as „1… supraceliac aorta, „2… celiac trunk, „3… superior me-
senteric, „4… left renal, „5… right renal, „6… left external iliac, „7…
right external iliac, „8… left internal iliac, and „9… right internal
iliac. Panel „b…: Schematic of the experimental setup with indi-
cated parts: „1… reservoir, „2… volumetric pump, „3… bypass-able
filter, „4… electromagnetic flow meter, „5… inflow conditioner, „6…
AAA model tank, „7… outflow lines from the lower branches, „8…
outflow lines from the upper branches, and „9… movable optical
module.
of 0.5 s. The patient had received 150 ml of nonionic contrast
material4 at an injection rate of 3 ml/ s.
The lumen of the aortic section beginning 6 cm above the ce-
liac trunk to the external iliac arteries including the celiac trunk,
the renal arteries, the superior mesenteric artery, and the common
and internal iliac arteries was segmented semi-automatically by
utilizing the specialized commercial software AMIRA 3.1.1.5 The
arteries protruding from the abdominal aorta were cut off distally
to their respective origins after a distance equal to five local di-
ameter lengths. A thrombus completely blocking the inferior me-
senteric artery was present and was excluded. A triangular un-
structured surface mesh was built over the marked volume using
the marching cube algorithm. Constrained smoothing was applied
by means of a Laplacian filter. The resulting geometrical informa-
tion on the anatomy of the inner aortic walls was used to construct
a thick, flexible, and transparent silicone elastomer phantom to
facilitate the experimental flow investigation. External arterial
walls were built to ensure structural stability, targeting the mini-
mum possible wall thickness to minimize optical distortion. The
thinnest walls were approximately 1.5 mm thick. This model was
manufactured by a specialist,6 at a scale of 1.5:1 to increase spa-
tial resolution and was mounted within a custom built transparent
glass tank, shown in Fig. 1共a兲. To minimize deviations between
the manufactured model and the CFD geometry, the tank with the
phantom was scanned filled with a mixture of calcium chloride
and water that matched the density of the working fluid. The ac-
4
Visipaque 320, Amersham Health, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom.
5 9
Mercury Computer Systems Inc., Duesseldorf, Germany.
6
Elastrat Sàrl, Geneva, Switzerland.
erate the luminal surface reconstruction for the computational do-
main. To allow for a direct comparison between experiments and
simulations, the computational domain was retained in the in vitro
scale.
Experimental Arrangement
Flow Circuit. To establish flow through the silicone phantom, a
closed circuit system was assembled, shown in Fig. 1共b兲. A mix-
ture of 40% water and 60% glycerol at 23° C with a density of
1156 kg/ m3 served as the working fluid through the model as
well as for filling the glass tank around it. This was necessary for
matching the index of refraction between the running fluid and the
phantom’s walls to minimize optical distortion. The refraction in-
dex of the silicone model was measured by a handheld
refractometer7 at 1.413. To prevent any permanent deformation of
the flexible AAA walls, the silicone model and its tank were filled
simultaneously at very slow rate. The enclosing tank was filled to
the maximum possible and an airtight plate sealed the topside.
This configuration restricted any overall volumetric expansion
during the measurements even after the establishment of flow.
A variable speed volumetric gear pump drove the fluid at
10.1 l / min. Its speed was regulated by measuring the total inflow
in the AAA model with an electromagnetic flow meter8 having a
nominal accuracy of 0.5%. The flow rate was determined through
dynamic similarity to achieve a Reynolds number of 560, corre-
sponding to averaged inflow resting boundary conditions 关15兴.
The inlet of the model was placed in the supraceliac section of the
aorta and had a diameter of 4.45 cm. The kinematic viscosity9 of
the water-glycerin mixture is 8.3⫻ 10−6 m2 / s at the temperature
of 23° C. An inflow conditioner was placed just upstream of the
phantom’s inlet to control the spatial velocity profile at the inlet.
The device consisted of two parts. The upstream part was a
smooth contraction containing a coarse filter mat to achieve a
uniform velocity distribution. The flow strainer was followed by
an interchangeable straight pipe. Its length permitted control of
the development of the spatial velocity profile. A 60 l tank served
as the main reservoir of the working fluid as well as the collection
point for all outlets, suitably positioned to maintain a constant
outflow pressure. To simplify things, no effort was made to adjust
the flow discharge ratios through the various aortic branches. Nev-
ertheless, the acquired volumetric flux through each outlet was
measured by the stopwatch and receptacle method to provide
boundary conditions to the computational simulations. For 30 s
the fluid flowing from each outlet was collected and afterward
weighed. This procedure was repeated two times for each outlet,
and the averaged results are shown in Table 1.
7
Eclipse, Bellingham & Stanley Ltd.
8
KROHNE Altometer IFC 080, KROHNE Messtechnik GmbH & Co. KG, Duis-
burg, Germany.
The Dow Chemical Company,
http://www.dow.com/glycerine/resources/table18.htm.

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Fig. 2 Overview of the PTV setup. Panel „a…: Photograph of the
image acquisition system. Its main components are labeled as
„1… camera, „2… four way splitter prism, „3… mirrors and „4… opti-
cal rail. Panel „b…: Photographic output showing the four differ-
ent perspectives.
Particle Tracking Velocimetry Setup. The PTV hardware setup
consists of three main components: An image acquisition system,
an illumination facility, and the tracer particles. A high-speed
video camera system10 was used, with a lens11 of focal length, f
= 50 mm. The camera, Fig. 2共a兲, was positioned in front of a
four-way splitter prism, and a set of four secondary mirrors was
used to capture four different perspectives of the region of inter-
est. The mirrors, the prism, and the camera were mounted onto an
optical rail. The raw image depicted in Fig. 2共b兲 shows the entire
1024⫻ 1024 imager chip. The four different perspectives, as seen
through the image splitter, were recorded simultaneously at a rate
of 250 frames per second. Splitting the image along the vertical
and horizontal symmetry lines resulted in a 512⫻ 512 pixels im-
age for each viewpoint. A mercury vapor lamp12 was used as a
light source to illuminate the tank through the bottom window. To
limit illumination only to the region of interest a light guide and
an aperture were used underneath the tank. Particles with diam-
eters spanning from 200 ␮m to 315 ␮m were used as fluid tracers
and were added directly to the reservoir. To check whether sig-
nificant discrepancies might arise between the fluid and particle
motion we estimated their settling velocity Vs by Stokes’ law,
assuming that they were spherical, and compared it with the ex-
pected average inlet velocity Vm by Eq. 共1兲.
10
Fastcam-ultima APX.
11
Nikkor.
12
HTI 400, Osram.
011008-4 / Vol. 131, JANUARY 2009
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d2 Re ␯
Vs = · 共␳ p − ␳ f 兲 · 兩g兩 and Vm = 共1兲
18␮ D
where d = 300 ␮m is the particle diameter, ␳ p = 1026 kg/ m3 is the
particle’s density, ␳ f = 1156 kg/ m3 is the fluid’s density, ␮ = 9.6
⫻ 10−3 Pa s is the fluid’s dynamic viscosity at the operating tem-
perature, 兩g兩 = 9.81 m / s2 is the gravitational acceleration, ␯ = 8.3
⫻ 10−6 m2 / s is the fluid’s kinematic viscosity, Re= 560 is the Rey-
nolds number, and D = 4.45 cm is the AAA inlet’s diameter. The
resulting velocities are Vs = 6.6⫻ 10−4 m / s and Vm ⬇ 0.1 m / s, re-
spectively. The velocity ratio, Vs / Vm ⬇ 6.4⫻ 10−3, shows that the
buoyancy effects can be neglected and that these particles are
suitable for this experiment.
The actual experiments were comprised of three sequential
steps: 共i兲 Calibration of the camera orientation with respect to the
observation volume, 共ii兲 recording of particle images, and 共iii兲
postprocessing, involving stereoscopic matching, tracking over
time, and further analysis of the resulting velocity field. Camera
calibration was performed prior to each measurement by photo-
graphing a dedicated target having markers with known coordi-
nates placed at three different depth levels around the current
region of interest of the AAA model. The utilized setup is auto-
mated and is capable of tracking about 1000 particles simulta-
neously. The maximum resolvable velocity was estimated at ap-
proximately 2 m / s for a camera frame rate of 250 Hz according
to the so-called tracking criterion, which requires that the maxi-
mum individual displacement per time step be of the order of the
mean particle separation. The absolute position error is estimated
at 50 ␮m and results from the error of the epipolar line intersec-
tions with respect to the particle image. The circulating fluid was
seeded at a density of 1.4 particles/ cm3. These numbers imply a
mean particle distance of about 9 mm. The obtained results con-
sisted of three-dimensional coordinates and corresponding veloc-
ity vectors within each region of interest. An extensive description
of the entire experimental setup and procedure may be found in
Ref. 关37兴.
Computational Fluid Dynamics Setup
Grid Generation. The computational domain is complex and
consists of the main trunk of the abdominal aorta and eight
branches including seven bifurcations. The various anatomical re-
gions as well as the names of the included branches are labeled in
Fig. 3共a兲. The elements of a volumetric mesh should satisfy cer-
tain criteria of geometrical quality based on aspect ratio and skew-
ness definitions. Modern commercial grid generators ensure that
the vast majority of the generated elements satisfy these criteria.
In addition, we decided to impose the following rules. First, the
elements’ size or volume should be smaller in the near wall re-
gions because of the higher velocity gradients there. Second, both
surface and volumetric elements should be allowed to rescale
from a branch with a large diameter to a branch with a smaller
one. Any two cross sections should approximately have the same
number of elements regardless of their diameter. Third, hexahe-
dral elements are better suited to regions with streamlined flow.
This allows us to increase their aspect ratio along the main flow
direction and thus decrease the required number of elements. Tet-
rahedral elements perform better in regions with intense
recirculation.
We propose a hybrid technique based on splitting the luminal
volume into manifold and nonmanifold subsections and filling
them with tetrahedral and hexahedral elements, respectively, Fig.
3共a兲. The procedure starts by specifying the number of nodes upon
all boundary and dividing edges. The length of the created inter-
vals is given as a constant fraction of each edge’s perimeter, R1.
The luminal walls that belong to nonmanifold volumes are
meshed with quadrilateral elements. The size of the generated
quadrilaterals is controlled by R1 in the circumferential sense and
by R2 in the longitudinal direction. R2 is defined as a weighted
fraction of the end edges’ perimeters and is in general larger than
Transactions of the ASME
 Fig. 3 Panel „a…: Overview of the generated luminal surface mesh showing
the division into manifold and nonmanifold domains. Panel „b…: Definition of
the main gridding parameters Ri on the inlet. Panel „c…: Close-up of the
surface grid in the vicinity of the visceral branches.

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 Fig. 4 Perspective, panel „a…, and planar, panel „b…, views of the cross section and the polyline utilized
in the grid independency study
Table 2 Generated mesh particulars
Mesh No. R1 R2 R3 Total elements
1 0.075 0.150 0.025 597,550
2 0.060 0.120 0.020 963,299
3 0.045 0.090 0.015 1,813,568
R1. The wall surfaces that bound manifold volumes are meshed
with triangular elements. The gradual resizing of the surface ele-
ments is controlled by linear size limitation functions with a
growth rate of 1.05. The cross-sectional faces bounded by both
boundary and dividing edges are gridded either with quadrilateral
or with triangular elements depending on whether they belong to a
nonmanifold or manifold volume, respectively. Those faces form-
ing the intersections between manifold and nonmanifold domains
possess different grids on each side forming arbitrary interfaces.
The nonmanifold volumes are gridded with hexahedral ele-
ments by sweeping the mesh of the cross-sectional end faces.
Manifold volumes are filled with tetrahedral elements. To manipu-
late the size of the generated elements we used a combination of
prismatic boundary layers and additional linear sizing functions
attached upon each surrounding wall surface. The size of each
prismatic layer grows according to a geometric series, and the
total height is limited to 7.5% of the average of the corresponding
edges’ perimeters divided by ␲. A new parameter, R3, again de-
fined as a weighted fraction of the corresponding end edges’ pe-
rimeters was used to control the size of the first layer of the
prismatic elements as well as the element minimum allowable size
in the sizing function definition. The growth rates of both the
prismatic boundary layers and the sizing functions were set at 1.2.
This procedure was programed in GAMBIT 2.2.3013 for the para-
metric generation of grids based on the a priori specification of R1,
R2, and R3. A depiction of the definition of these parameters in the
inlet region is given in Fig. 3共b兲. We produced three successively
finer grids whose particulars are detailed in Table 2. A view of the
surface grid in the vicinity of the visceral branches is included in
Fig. 3共c兲.
Main Assumptions and Boundary Conditions. In order to cross-
validate the computational and the experimental results the bound-
ary conditions were matched to those of the experimental setup.
An experimentally derived three-dimensional velocity profile was
specified at the inlet. The volumetric outflow rates of Table 1 were
imposed at all outlets by means of fully developed paraboloid
spatial profiles, except from the outlet of the right external iliac
artery where the static pressure was set to zero. By virtue of the
13
Fluent Inc., Darmstadt, Germany.
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continuity equation and the incompressibility of the running fluid,
the flux through this specific outlet matched the indicated value of
Table 1. The walls of the AAA model did not move during the
performed steady flow experiment. A no-slip velocity boundary
condition was imposed at the inner arterial walls.
To allow for an easier comparison with the experimental results
all simulations were performed at the in vitro scale. The compu-
tational fluid was assumed to have a Newtonian behavior with the
density and viscosity that were specified above for the water-
glycerin mixture. The flow was assumed to be incompressible,
laminar, and steady. A multiphysics solver, CFD-ACE⫹,14 was used
to solve the Navier–Stokes equations. This code is based on a
finite volume discretization method and employs a pressure-
velocity coupling variant of the SIMPLEC algorithm. The numeri-
cal solution was acquired with second order spatial accuracy,
while using an algebraic multigrid convergence acceleration tech-
nique.
Results
Grid Independency Study. To check the grid independency of
the computational results, we performed simulations with the
meshes of Table 2. All calculations were carried out in parallel on
a 32 bit dual xeon 3.0 GHz workstation with 4 Gbytes of RAM. It
can be seen from Table 2 that the number of elements nearly
doubles between successive refinements. A decrease of six orders
of magnitude in the equation residuals was achieved in all cases.
To establish a common ground for comparing the simulation
results we studied several planar cross sections within the AAA
model, all of which revealed similar behavior. One of them, at
Y = 0.14 m, running through most of the computational domain
and intersecting both tetrahedral and hexahedral domains is shown
in Fig. 4共a兲. Velocity and pressure comparisons are shown in Figs.
5 and 6 for each mesh. Four panels contain line contour plots for
each velocity component and pressure. Corresponding line plots
for each variable and mesh along the indicated line path in Fig.
4共b兲 are plotted in Fig. 6. A plot of the cell volumes along this line
path is superimposed to the panels of this figure for each mesh. An
inspection of the subplots of Figs. 5 and 6 reveals that there is
excellent convergence between the investigated grids for all
solved variables. The velocity line contours overlap throughout
the computational domain including the near wall regions. Visible
contour differences exist only within the central AAA region but
in all directions remain below 1% along the indicated line path.
By observing the cell volume lines we notice that the regions with
the most significant change in cell volume within the AAA
coincide with the regions of greater velocity differences. It is no-
ticed that this region is gridded with tetrahedral elements and
14
ESI Group CFD, Paris, France.
Transactions of the ASME

Fig. 5 Contour plot comparisons of velocity components,
panels „a…–„c…, and pressure, panel „d…, along the planar cross
section indicated in Fig. 4„a…
experiences significant lateral recirculation. From a CFD point of
view this is expected and acceptable at the observed scale.
Pressure reveals similar variations of less than 1%, with the
sparser mesh predicting larger absolute values. Once more, a com-
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Fig. 6 Line plot comparisons of velocity components, panels
„a…–„c…, and pressure, panel „d…, along the indicated polyline in
Fig. 4„b…
parison with the cell volume distribution along the prescribed line
path reveals that the numerical differences intensify at the regions
of large resolution changes. In contrast to the velocity compari-
sons, pressure variations are visible in both the upstream hexahe-
dral domain and within the AAA tetrahedral domain. Taking into
account the small levels of discrepancy observed it is safe to as-
JANUARY 2009, Vol. 131 / 011008-7
 Fig. 7 Overview of the measurement volumes and the planar cross sections used for
the comparison between the PTV and CFD velocity quantifications
sume that we have reached at a converged solution. It is also
worth mentioning that the intended mesh resizing of the proposed
gridding technique is shown evidently in the cell volume distribu-
tion curve. The cell volume ratios between successive meshes
along the investigated line path ranged between 40% and 80%
with the exception of the level of the celiac trunk when passing
from mesh 1 to mesh 2. The localization of the line path was
chosen at the vessel’s centerline where larger cells reside. The
refinement of this region is the most difficult to achieve in un-
structured meshes. Finally, it is also clear that the utilization of
arbitrary interfaces, indicated by the abrupt cell volume changes
in Fig. 6, did not produce any spurious variations in the solved
variables. All subsequent numerical results presented in this study
were acquired with the third mesh.
Experimental Measurements and Comparison With Simu-
lation Results. Measurements were performed at four different
locations along the AAA model, as indicated in Fig. 7. These sites
were 共1兲 the inlet of the silicone model in the supraceliac section
of the aorta, 共2兲 the neck of the aneurysm, 共3兲 the anterior aneu-
rysm sack, and 共4兲 the iliac bifurcation. Another observation vol-
ume was located at the level of the visceral branches; however, the
measurements could not be used due to unfavorable lighting con-
ditions caused by the increased thickness of the model wall in this
region. At each sector, the experimental results were interpolated
on to a fixed Cartesian grid of 30⫻ 25⫻ 20 points along the X, Y,
and Z directions, respectively, due to memory constraints. The
spacing between the grid points was varied to cover each region
of interest as follows: 共1兲 Supraceliac aorta 共3.3, 2.0, 2.5兲 mm,
共2兲 aneurysm neck 共3.5, 2.9, 3.2兲 mm, 共3兲 aneurysm sack
共3.3, 3.5, 2.4兲 mm, and 共4兲 iliac bifurcation 共3.2, 3.9, 2.5兲 mm.
The region of the supraceliac aorta was scanned to provide
velocity boundary conditions at the inlet of the computational do-
main, set at X = 0.545 m, Fig. 7. The inflow conditioner functioned
properly, and a partially developed inflow profile was generated
with little or no secondary flow. We imposed this requirement
to the inflow velocity profile to approximate conditions of systol-
ic flow 关13兴. A comparison between the total volumetric flux
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measured by the electromagnetic flow meter and the integration of
the experimental velocity field showed a difference, of 2.8%.
In Figs. 8–10, we show representative plots between experi-
mental and numerical velocities at two planar cross sections in the
X-direction for each region, i.e., the aneurysm sack, the aneurysm
neck, and the iliac bifurcation. The U-velocity component is pre-
sented with contour plots for each cross section in panels 共a兲, 共b兲,
共e兲, and 共f兲. The V- and W-velocity components are included with
embedded vector plots. Additional rows of line subplots accom-
modate the quantitative comparison of the respective velocity
components along the overlapping part of the indicated lines for
each cross section in panels 共c兲, 共d兲, 共g兲, and 共h兲.
The large lateral slow recirculation zone within the aortic bulge
is clearly defined by both approaches. There is only a thin forward
flowing stream that is confined in the anterior and right side of the
aorta, Fig. 8 panels 共a兲, 共b兲, 共e兲, and 共f兲. The posterior wall and
most of the central region experience very low velocities. This
fact has been documented by both numerical and experimental
investigations in models of the physiological aorta. In this AAA
case the effect of the lumbar curvature is exaggerated by the di-
latation of the infrarenal aorta. The velocity comparisons, Fig. 8
panels 共c兲, 共d兲, 共g兲, and 共h兲, reveal small discrepancies in the
alignment between the experimental and computational domains.
The overlap between the PTV and CFD results is complete in the
Y-direction. The shift in this direction increases up to 2 mm or
2.5% of the maximum aneurysm diameter in the experimental
scale, Fig. 8共d兲. The predicted velocities show an average devia-
tion of less than 5% of the mean inlet velocity 共Vm = 0.1 m / s兲 in
all directions with the exception of Fig. 8共d兲 where the differences
in the U-component rise to 11.2%.
The formation of a fast entrant jet moving from the center to the
right wall is presented in agreement by both the experimental and
numerical results in Fig. 9. This is caused by the expansion of the
aneurysm sack toward the left hand side as well as by the bending
of the infrarenal aorta. Figures 9共a兲 and 9共e兲 also reveal the de-
velopment of the lateral recirculation zone that occupies the bulk
of the AAA sack, shown in Fig. 8. The velocity plots of Fig. 9,
panels 共c兲, 共d兲, 共g兲, and 共h兲, reveal negligible discrepancies in the
Transactions of the ASME
 Fig. 8 Comparison of experimental and computational velocity distributions along planar cross sec-
tions within the aneurysm sack as well as along indicated lines lying within these cross sections: Panels
„a…–„d… X = 0.19 m and panels „e…–„h… X = 0.22 m

alignment of the CFD and PTV domains. The velocity distribu-
tions show minor differences in all velocity components in the
overlapping sections. The average deviation rises up to 5.3% in
the case of the W-velocity component, shown in Fig. 9共h兲. Over-
all, there is better agreement between the numerical and the ex-
perimental velocity values in the cross sections X = 0.28 m and
X = 0.31 m than those located in the aneurismal sack.
The iliac bifurcation is the focus of Fig. 10. The first cross
section, X = 0.16 m, was placed upstream of the bifurcation,
whereas the second one is set at X = 0.13 m and contains the left

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 Fig. 9 Comparison of experimental and computational velocity distributions along planar cross sec-
tions within the aneurysm neck as well as along indicated lines lying within these cross sections: Panels
„a…–„d… X = 0.28 m and panels „e…–„h… X = 0.31 m

and right common iliac arteries. A comparison with Fig. 8共a兲 re-
veals a more uniform and slower distribution of the U-velocity
component. The in-plane secondary rotation persists and extends
up to the aortic wall on all sides. The plots of the flow field at
X = 0.13 m show an increase in the velocity values in each bifur-
cating branch due to the significant reduction in the cross-
sectional area. The predicted velocity values are in good agree-
ment with their experimentally measured counterparts in the
upstream cross section, Fig. 10 panels 共c兲 and 共d兲. The average
deviation goes up to 6.5% with a maximum of 12% registered in

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 Fig. 10 Comparison of experimental and computational velocity distributions along planar cross sec-
tions within the iliac bifurcation as well as along indicated lines lying within these cross sections: Panels
„a…–„d… X = 0.16 m and panels „e…–„h… X = 0.13 m

the V-velocity component. A similar alignment discrepancy with
that of Fig. 8 is observed here too. The comparison deteriorates
significantly downstream the iliac bifurcation, Fig. 10 panels 共e兲–
共h兲. The corresponding cross sections are larger in the PTV than in
the CFD domain. Also there is a significant offset in both the Y-
and Z-directions, which affects the registered velocity differences
especially in the near wall regions. The mean velocity differences
in the overlapping sections rise up to 15% in Fig. 10共h兲 with
maximum velocity deviations up to 40% of the average inlet
velocity.

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 Fig. 11 Normalized contour plot distributions upon the anterior and posterior sides of the aortic wall of pressure, panels
„a… and „b…, and wall shear stress magnitude, panels „c… and „d…
There are three presumable sources of error in the presented
experimental measurements under the assumption that the pre-
sented grid independent numerical solution is sufficiently accu-
rate. First, errors might creep in by the misalignment of the ex-
perimental versus the numerical coordinate systems. The second
source is the intrinsic accuracy of the PTV method as affected by
the local light refraction and reflection along with the presence of
an adequate number of tracer particles. The accuracy of the
method is expected to deteriorate within narrow outflow vessels
and in the close proximity of the walls. Residual optical distortion
remains a constraining factor when viewing tangentially to the
silicone wall. In such conditions, the scattered light follows an
unfavorable optical path in terms of incident angle and perceived
wall thickness. Lastly, the phantom and the computational domain
may differ slightly. Although the presence of the airtight plate seal
prevented any net volumetric change, the hydrodynamic pressure
and the momentum change in reference to the stagnant flow state
can still cause shape deformation, especially in the vicinity of the
iliac bifurcation where the main flow jet divides in the two out-
flow branches. Even though the computational domain was ac-
quired by scanning a filled AAA model with its tank, it was not
possible to establish a flowing circuit within the confines of the
CT scanner.
In general, the numerical results were in good qualitative and
quantitative agreement with the experimental results. The reso-
lution of the experimental data was deemed satisfactory in all
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sections except in the near wall regions on the posterior side. All
three velocity components were predicted consistently within the
bulk of the AAA model.
Wall Pressure and Wall Shear Stress Distributions. Conclud-
ing this study we present contour plots of wall pressure and WSS
magnitude for both the posterior and anterior sides in Fig. 11.
冉 冊 冉冊
1 Re ␯ 2
8 ␮ 2
PD = ·␳· and ␶ P = · Re 共2兲
2 D ␳ D
Wall pressure is normalized with the inlet’s dynamic head,
PDexpt = 5.78 Pa, and WSS with the equivalent Poiseuille inlet flow
WSS, ␶ Pexpt = 0.18 Pa, according to Eq. 共2兲. The corresponding in
vivo values at the same Reynolds number are PDblood = 1.99 Pa
and ␶ Pblood = 0.06 Pa.
Under steady flow conditions at Re= 560, the pressure drop
from the supraceliac aorta to the iliac bifurcation is very small at
⌬P* = 0.8, which amounts to 4.6 Pa in the in vitro scale or equiva-
lently 1.59 Pa in vivo. Wall pressure is nearly constant within the
aneurismal bulge. The pressure drop intensifies through the vari-
ous branches and depends on the local morphology, size, and
branching angle as well as on the specified mass discharge ratios.
All outlets received approximately the same amount of flux but
apparently larger pressure drops are needed to drive the flow
through the left and right renal arteries. Under realistic resting
Transactions of the ASME
 Fig. 12 Velocity streamlines within the AAA model colored with the velocity
magnitude
flow conditions the total outflow from the four visceral branches
should increase about 18% 关9兴. The maximum increase is required
at the celiac trunk by 7%, which shows a rather small pressure
drop and receives too little flow in this experimental setup. Under
pulsatile flow conditions the amplitude of pressure difference os-
cillations is expected to reach approximately 300 Pa in the in vivo
scale from the supraceliac aorta to the iliac arteries 关38兴. This
value corresponds to almost 871 Pa in the utilized experimental
setup. Significant pressure variations occur in the vicinity of the
iliac bifurcation even under steady flow conditions. Under pulsa-
tile conditions, values of the instantaneous pressure there are ex-
pected to rise above the corresponding levels in the supraceliac
aorta. This should be taken into account when planning for tran-
sient experimental investigations since it may affect the stability
of thin-walled silicone models.
The results on WSS are in agreement with published data from
investigations in the physiological aorta 关7,38兴 as well as with
more recent AAA patient-specific fluid-solid interaction simula-
tions 关29,30兴. The posterior walls experience consistently lower
WSS than the anterior ones. The anterior aneurismal wall reveals
intense WSS spatial variation of up to ⌬␶* = 2.4, which corre-
sponds to 0.43 Pa in vitro and 0.14 Pa in vivo. This is caused by
the coexistence of slow and fast lateral recirculating velocity re-
gions. A broader overview of the flow field is shown in Fig. 12 by
depicting velocity streamlines. Typically, maximum WSS values
occur within the various branches and at the iliac bifurcation. The
wall regions around their orifices display both large and low WSS
areas in close proximity. This is a well documented observation in
the area of the visceral and the iliac arteries and is attributed to the
complex branching flow patterns that develop in order to divert
sufficient flow from the main trunk of the aorta. The intensity of
the spatial WSS variations is expected to increase in accordance
with the amount of diverting flow as well as under physiological
pulsatile flow conditions. It is also worth mentioning that the WSS
magnitude is consistently lower than the pressure magnitude,
which is an indication that WSS may only contribute to the weak-
ening of the aortic wall in an indirect way through a malfunction-
ing endothelium. The direct mechanical loading of the wall must
be attributed to pressure.
Journal of Biomechanical Engineering
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Discussion
The current study has used modern CT and rapid prototyping
technology to investigate a patient-specific AAA case. A com-
bined PTV and CFD investigation of the flow within the entire
abdominal aorta was carried out under averaged steady physi-
ological flow conditions. Our aim was to examine the feasibility
of performing reliable three-dimensional velocity measurements
by PTV, which has not been attempted so far in an anatomically
correct geometry.
The results confirmed the agreement between the selected nu-
merical and experimental approaches by successfully quantifying
the large recirculation zones that characterize aneurismal flow.
The significance of such predictions stems from the fact that the
localization, morphology, and size of vortical structures have been
shown to greatly influence blood clotting and the formation of
intraluminal thrombus. The large velocity gradients that are ob-
served at the interfaces between jet and recirculation zones as well
as within the close proximity of the arterial walls are accompanied
by strong shearing forces, which are known to stretch and deform
red blood cells. In addition, we presented computational quantifi-
cations of the wall pressure and shear fields again revealing the
characteristic patterns that have been linked to atherosclerosis and
the formation of plaque. Besides CFD there are no available tech-
niques that can provide data on the distribution of shear stress
with comparable resolution.
The grid independency of the presented computational results
was accomplished in a systematic manner. Our meshing approach
has taken into account anticipated features of the investigated flow
field, the local spatial scales of the surrounding geometry, and
managed to retain the required resolution. It must be stressed here
that the proposed gridding technique is static in character, and the
grid does not deform according to the solution during the CFD
calculations. Adaptive grid generation techniques, such as the one
proposed by Sahni et al. 关39兴, are possibly more powerful than the
presented approach but at the same time increase the required
computational times.
The proposed experimental methodology possesses advantages
and some disadvantages that we need to overcome. The main
JANUARY 2009, Vol. 131 / 011008-13
 advantage of PTV is its inherent three-dimensional character.
Tracer particles are known to avoid regions of large shear hinder-
ing boundary layer measurements either with PTV or PIV. How-
ever, PTV does not require a minimum seeding density to get a
good estimate of the velocity since it tracks individual particles. In
the presented experiment the number of the near wall resolved
particle velocities was not sufficient to extract wall shear stress
estimations. Also, particle seeding must be increased for the im-
position of physiologically accurate resting boundary conditions.
In this case the greatest part of the aortic inflow exits through the
visceral branches and we need to ensure that a sufficient number
of particles reach the AAA sack. At the same time, an increased
number of seeding particles requires an improved signal to noise
ratio for particle detection, e.g., using fluorescent particles and
spectral separation of the excitation wavelength scattering from
the phantom wall.
The main limitation of the presently available setup rests on the
imposition of realistic boundary conditions. Obviously, this does
not concern the actual optical section of the experimental rig. It is
connected with the active control of the flow circuit in order to
achieve the required mass flux distribution through the various
outlets. This can be achieved by mimicking the downstream im-
pedance characteristics of the truncated arterial branches. In the
case of steady flow the above requirement simplifies to the addi-
tion of suitable linear resistances downstream the outflow
branches. We could also improve the construction of the inflow
conditioner to induce the secondary motion that is present in the
descending aorta. CFD investigations are easier to perform under
virtually any type of boundary conditions provided that rigorous
grid generation methods are used and sufficient grid independency
is established. The knowledge of the pertinent parameters is usu-
ally the limiting factor and not some numerical analysis or other
technical restriction. In vivo MR velocimetry and/or quantifica-
tions of the arterial impedances by ultrasound are the most reliable
sources for physiologically accurate boundary conditions. Several
approximations or simplifications based on entirely mathematical
models are also possible 关38兴.
The utilization of a phantom with flexible walls can be per-
ceived either as an advantage or as a disadvantage. For instance, it
is much easier to handle a deformable model during the required
optical calibration. On the other hand, such a model can change its
shape under the action of hydrodynamic pressure. In steady flow
investigations this can form a source of error. Conversely, this can
turn into an advantage in pulsatile studies where the arterial walls
are expected to deform. Another possible limitation is the adop-
tion of Newtonian working fluids. Blood displays a well docu-
mented shear thinning behavior that becomes increasingly impor-
tant in regions of low hydrodynamic shear. The extensive near
stasis low strain regions that exist in AAAs might induce signifi-
cant deviations from the hypothesized Newtonian behavior.
The presented results proved the feasibility of using PTV for
three-dimensional velocity measurements within a phantom of an
anatomically accurate AAA, thus enriching already available mo-
dalities such as LDV, PIV, and MR velocimetry. It is important to
complement the present experiment by acquiring velocity mea-
surements under purely pulsatile boundary conditions. Investiga-
tions on the transition to turbulence under simulated exercise con-
ditions are also of great clinical interest and PTV appears well
suited for this task. The cross-validation of experimental with nu-
merical results has also shown that CFD can play a central role in
the investigation of the vascular hemodynamics of patients pro-
vided that the imposed boundary conditions are sufficiently accu-
rate and that advanced grid generation strategies are utilized to
render such computations free of spurious grid dependency ef-
fects. The increase in the available computational resources has
also cleared the way toward anatomically realistic fluid-solid in-
teraction simulations 关30兴. Vorp 关40兴 presented an excellent re-
view of research efforts aiming both at the modeling of the aneur-
ismal wall mechanical behavior and at the experimental
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determination of the relevant material properties. From a clinical
point of view, the investigation of the mechanics of stented AAAs
is of utmost importance. Li et al. 关41兴 moved toward computa-
tional fluid-solid interaction studies in patient-specific stented
AAA geometries, whereas LDA velocity quantifications have been
presented in an idealized stented AAA model by Chong and How
关42兴.
Acknowledgment
The authors acknowledge the assistance of Rene Mathys and
Philipp Zurflueh, students of Mechanical and Process Engineering
in ETH Zurich, in the experimental work. Dr. Kevin Boomsma,15
Dr. Alex Liberzon,16 Dr. Beat Luthi,16 and Professor Wolfgang
Kinzelbach16 are kindly accredited for providing guidance and
technical support in various subtasks of this work. We warmly
thank Dr. Med. Thomas Frauenfelder17 for his assistance in scan-
ning and segmentation of the AAA model during the early stages
of this work. This study was conducted within “Project 12” in the
first phase of the “Computer Aided and Image Guided Medical
Interventions” 共CO-ME兲 project of the Swiss National Science
Foundation.
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JANUARY 2009, Vol. 131 / 011008-15