Aneurysms in critical regions like the brain and aorta pose significant risks, where rupture can be life-threatening. The design and development of flow-diverting braided stents – essential for treating wide-neck and complex aneurysms – can be time-consuming and costly. At Dassault Systèmes, we have developed a Modeling and Simulation (MODSIM) workflow to accelerate and improve this process through advanced simulations. This workflow leverages CATIA for parametric stent design, followed by SIMULIA PowerFLOW for accurate CFD simulations using its unique Lattice Boltzmann-based (LBM) solver for patient-specific modeling.
Modeling with CATIA
- Parametric Design: Quickly create and modify complex braided stent geometries with CATIA's parametric approach to automate the creation of multiple design variants
- Patient-Specific Morphing: Designs can then be morphed to evaluate the stent fit derived from medical imaging, ensuring personalized solutions for unique patient anatomies
CFD Simulation with PowerFLOW
- Automated Fluid Domain Generation: LBM solver effortlessly resolves tight gaps between braided stent wires, surpassing traditional CFD challenges → Reduces manual effort and speeds up design iteration process due to automatic fluid domain setup
- Clinical Insights: Predicts hemodynamic parameters (e.g., blood flow rates, wall shear stress) to evaluate rupture risk and stent performance
- End-to-End Automation: PowerFLOW can automate the entire simulation process - from meshing and model setup to post-processing - using customizable templates
Clinical Benefits of MODSIM Workflow
- Minimize reliance on costly physical testing and clinical trials → ‘virtual testing’ on large patient cohorts
- Ensure that stent design is tailored to specific anatomies to help reduce aneurysm rupture risk and enhance patient care → drastically reduce compliance related issues and adverse field events
For additional details, you can review our presentation at the Virtual Human Twin Experience Symposium (Link) and also visit the product websites.
CATIA: https://www.3ds.com/products/catia
SIMULIA PowerFLOW: https://www.3ds.com/products/simulia/powerflow
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Acknowledgement | CATIA & SIMULIA Teams
