Optical imaging of steady flow in a phantom model of iliac artery stenosis: comparison of CFD simulations with PIV measurements

A flexible flow phantom system was designed and fabricated for the purpose of validation of i) CFD models proposed in conjunction with vascular imaging and ii) medical imaging techniques (such as MRI) that can produce flow velocities. In particular, one of the most challenging flows for both CFD models when modeling flow velocities and imaging techniques when measuring flow velocities are stenotic flows. Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) is an optical technique for accurate measurement of in-vitro flow velocities and visualization of fluid flow. The fluid is seeded with tracer particles and the motion of the particles, illuminated with a laser light sheet, reveal particle velocities. Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) was used to measure the flow fields across a Gaussian-shaped 90% area stenosis phantom. The flow parameters were adjusted to the phantom geometry to mimic the blood flow through the human common iliac artery. In addition, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation of the same flow was performed and the results were validated with those from PIV measurements. Steady flow rate of 46.9 ml/s was used, which corresponds to a Reynolds number of 188 and 595 at the inlet and stenosis throat, respectively. A maximum discrepancy of 15% in peak velocity was observed between the two techniques.