Turbulent flow, characterized by velocity fluctuations, accompanies many forms of cardiovascular disease and may contribute to their progression and hemodynamic consequences. Several studies have investigated the effects of turbulence on the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) signal. Quantitative MRI turbulence measurements have recently been shown to have great potential for application both in human cardiovascular flow and in engineering flow. In this article, potential pitfalls and sources of error in MRI turbulence measurements are theoretically and numerically investigated. Data acquisition strategies suitable for turbulence quantification are outlined. The results show that the sensitivity of MRI turbulence measurements to intravoxel mean velocity variations is negligible, but that noise may degrade the estimates if the turbulence encoding parameter is set improperly. Different approaches for utilizing a given amount of scan time were shown to influence the dynamic range and the uncertainty in the turbulence estimates due to noise. The findings reported in this work may be valuable for both in vitro and in vivo studies employing MRI methods for turbulence quantification.

Quantifying turbulent wall shear stress in a subject specific human aorta using large eddy simulation, 2012, Medical Engineering and Physics, (34), 8, 1139-1148

Phase contrast MRI is a powerful tool for the assessment of blood flow. However, especially in the highly complex and turbulent flow that accompanies many cardiovascular diseases, phase contrast MRI may suffer from artifacts. Simulation of phase contrast MRI of turbulent flow could increase our understanding of phase contrast MRI artifacts in turbulent flows and facilitate the development of phase contrast MRI methods for the assessment of turbulent blood flow. We present a method for the simulation of phase contrast MRI measurements of turbulent flow. The method uses an EulerianLagrangian approach, in which spin particle trajectories are computed from time-resolved large eddy simulations. The Bloch equations are solved for each spin for a frame of reference moving along the spins trajectory. The method was validated by comparison with phase contrast MRI measurements of velocity and intravoxel velocity standard deviation (IVSD) on a flow phantom consisting of a straight rigid pipe with a stenosis. Turbulence related artifacts, such as signal drop and ghosting, could be recognized in the measurements as well as in the simulations. The velocity and the IVSD obtained from the magnitude of the phase contrast MRI simulations agreed well with the measurements. Magn Reson Med 64:1039-1046,

Large eddy simulation was applied for flow of Re=2000 in a stenosed pipe in order to undertake a thorough investigation of the wall shear stress (WSS) in turbulent flow. A decomposition of the WSS into time averaged and fluctuating components is proposed. It was concluded that a scale resolving technique is required to completely describe the WSS pattern in a subject specific vessel model, since the poststenotic region was dominated by large axial and circumferential fluctuations. Three poststenotic regions of different WSS characteristics were identified. The recirculation zone was subject to a time averaged WSS in the retrograde direction and large fluctuations. After reattachment there was an antegrade shear and smaller fluctuations than in the recirculation zone. At the reattachment the fluctuations were the largest, but no direction dominated over time. Due to symmetry the circumferential time average was always zero. Thus, in a blood vessel, the axial fluctuations would affect endothelial cells in a stretched state, whereas the circumferential fluctuations would act in a relaxed direction.

Abstract. Patient specific modelling of the blood flow through the human aorta is performed using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Velocity patterns are compared between computer simulations and measurements. The workflow includes several steps: MRI measurement to obtain both geometry and velocity, an automatic levelset segmentation followed by meshing of the geometrical model and CFD setup to perform the simulations follwed by the actual simulations. The computational results agree well with the measured data.

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Large eddy simulation was applied to investigate hemodynamics in a model with coarctation of the aorta (CoA) and poststenotic dilatation. Special focus was put on the role of hemodynamics for success of CoA repair. Several parameters previously identified as related to cardiovascular disease were studied. Known risk factors were observed both with CoA and after repair, and the restoration of the anatomy seems to be crucial for a successful result.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or be transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission of the author.Cover: Pipe flow becomming turbulent after a constriction. Streamlines, wall shear stress on the surface, and vorticity in three cross sections. AbstractThe genesis of atherosclerosis has previously been shown to be affected by the frictional load from the blood on the vessel wall, called the wall shear stress (WSS). Assessment of WSS can therefore provide important information for diagnoses, intervention planning, and follow-up. Calculation of WSS requires highresolved velocity data from the vessel, which in turn can be obtained using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). In this work large eddy simulation LES was successfully used to simulate transitional flow in idealized as well as subject specific vessel models. It was shown that a scale resolving technique is to prefer for this application, since much valuable information otherwise is lost. Besides, Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) models have generally failed to predict this type of flow.Non-pulsating flows of Reynolds numbers up to 2 000 in a circular constricted pipe showed that turbulence is likely to occur in the post-stenotic region, which resulted in a complex WSS pattern characterized by large spatial as well temporal fluctuations in all directions along the wall. Time averaged streamwise WSS was relatively high, while time averaged circumferential WSS was low, meaning that endothelial cells in that region would be exposed to oscillations in a stretched state in the streamwise direction and in a relaxed state in the circumferential direction.Since every vessel is unique, so is also its WSS pattern. Hence the CFD simulations must be done in subject specific vessel models. Such can be created from anatomical information acquired with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MRI can also be used to obtain velocity boundary conditions for the simulation. This technique was used to investigate pulsating flow in a subject specific normal human aorta. It was shown that even the flow in healthy vessels can be very disturbed and turbulence like, and even for this case large WSS variations were seen. It was also shown that regions around branches from the aorta, known to be susceptible for atherosclerosis, were characterized by high time averaged WSS and high oscillatory shear index.Finally, the predictive capability of CFD was investigated. An idealized model of a human aorta with a coarctation and post-stenotic dilatation was studied before and after a possible repair of the constriction. The results suggested that iii small remaining abnormalities in the geometry may deteriorate the chances for a successful treatment. Also, high values of shear rate and Reynolds stresses were found in the dilatation after the constriction, which previous works have shown means increased risk for thrombus formation and hemolysis. iv Populärvetenskaplig be...