Best Practices in Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling of Cerebral Aneurysms using ANSYS CFX
Abstract
Today many researchers are looking toward computational fluid dynamics (CFD) as a tool that
can help doctors understand and predict the severity of aneurysms, but there has yet to be any
conclusive proof of the accuracy or the ease of implementation of this CFD analysis. To help solve this
issue, CFD simulations were conducted to compare these setup practices in order to find the most
accurate and computationally efficient setup. These simulation comparisons were applied over two CFD
group challenges from the CFD community whose goal was not only to assess modeling accuracy, but
the analysis of clinical use and the hemodynamics of rupture as well. Methodology compared included
mesh style and refinement, timestep comparison, steady and unsteady flow comparison as well as flow
rate amplitude comparison, inlet flow profile conditions, and outlet boundary conditions. The “Best
Practice” setup gave good overall results compared with challenge participant and in-vitro data.