Design and Simulation of flow field for sinusoidal scaffold using Computational fluid dynamics

Abstract

Bone can heal small defects by itself but fails to do so in case of severe bone damage. A common treatment for severe damage is grafting bone. Approximately 1.6 million bone grafts are performed in the United States per year [1]. Unfortunately, this treatment has several serious drawbacks, such as a high risk of infections or even donor site morbidities. Tissue Engineering and regenerative medicine is a promising biomedical alternative to cure severe bone damage. Scaffolds can be used to re-build the bone structure since they can support seeded cells and provide an optimal environment for cell growth [2]. The scaffold's geometry design influences flow characteristics, mass transfer rates, and wall shear stress (WSS). The WSS is an important parameter to investigate because it affects the differentiation and bioactivity of cells inside the scaffold. In this work, we investigate the influence of the scaffold geometry on the flow field, WSS and mass transport using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The reliability of the numerical results is evaluated using the μ-particle image velocimetry (PIV) method.