Arteries and Algorithms: Computational physiological flow and arterial disease modelling
Lead Research Organisation:
Imperial College London
Department Name: Aeronautics
Abstract
Cardiovascular disease, including atherosclerosis, accounts for almost 50% of deaths in the western world. Our understanding of the causes and progression of atherosclerosis is relatively limited and, in many cases, both diagnosis and treatment require invasive patient specific techniques.An enhanced understanding of the physiological factors related to cardiovascular disease would likely to lead to significant advances in treatment as well as increased accuracy in diagnosis and prognosis. Developing this understanding is particularly difficult because of the complexities of the flow in human arterial networks. These are impossible to understand using existing medical data and expertise alone.Recent developments in numerical methods including greater opportunities for wider use of computational simulation and visualisation can provide the necessary link between patient specific imaging data, physics and biology, to provide a platform for this increased understanding. The impact of the use of these techniques could revolutionise medical science and practice in the way imaging modalities such as X-ray, ultrasound and magnetic resonance have done in succession over the past 40 years.The aim of this research initiative is, through close collaboration with vascular biologists, physiologists and surgeons, to develop a simulation environment capable of capturing the multi-scale, hierarchically coupled nature of both physiological and pathological arterial networks. The research programme is focused around three projects, two physiological incorporating the multiscale nature of arterial networks and one numerical: The first project will apply modelling of the three-dimensional fluid dynamics at arterial branches to improve understanding of the causal relationship of blood flow to arterial disease such as atherosclerosis. The second project is directed towards understanding and modelling pulsatile flow wavefoms in patient specific vascular networks using one-dimensional reduced models. The third project focuses on development of advanced mathematical and numerical techniques, such as uncertainty modelling and spectral/hp element methods, to facilitate such modelling.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
Spencer Sherwin (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Matthys KS
(2007)
Pulse wave propagation in a model human arterial network: assessment of 1-D numerical simulations against in vitro measurements.
in Journal of biomechanics
Mohamied Y
(2017)
Understanding the fluid mechanics behind transverse wall shear stress.
in Journal of biomechanics
Peiffer V
(2013)
Computation in the rabbit aorta of a new metric - the transverse wall shear stress - to quantify the multidirectional character of disturbed blood flow.
in Journal of biomechanics
Vincent P
(2008)
Viscous flow over outflow slits covered by an anisotropic Brinkman medium: A model of flow above interendothelial cell clefts
in Physics of Fluids
Vincent PE
(2011)
Blood flow in the rabbit aortic arch and descending thoracic aorta.
in Journal of the Royal Society, Interface
Vincent PE
(2009)
The effect of a spatially heterogeneous transmural water flux on concentration polarization of low density lipoprotein in arteries.
in Biophysical journal
Vincent PE
(2010)
The effect of the endothelial glycocalyx layer on concentration polarisation of low density lipoprotein in arteries.
in Journal of theoretical biology
Vos P
(2008)
A comparison of fictitious domain methods appropriate for spectral/hp element discretisations
in Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering
Vos P
(2011)
A generic framework for time-stepping partial differential equations (PDEs): general linear methods, object-oriented implementation and application to fluid problems
in International Journal of Computational Fluid Dynamics
Description | BHF Project Grant |
Amount | £175,030 (GBP) |
Funding ID | PG/08/053/25192 |
Organisation | British Heart Foundation (BHF) |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 10/2008 |
End | 09/2011 |
Description | BHF Project Grant |
Amount | £189,168 (GBP) |
Funding ID | PF/09/088 |
Organisation | British Heart Foundation (BHF) |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 10/2010 |
End | 09/2012 |
Description | BHF Research Excellence Centre |
Amount | £8,900,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | BHF RE/08/002 |
Organisation | British Heart Foundation (BHF) |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 04/2008 |
End | 03/2013 |
Description | EC: IDIHOM |
Amount | £196,452 (GBP) |
Funding ID | 265780 |
Organisation | European Commission |
Sector | Public |
Country | European Union (EU) |
Start | 07/2010 |
End | 06/2013 |
Description | EPSRC: LIbHPC I |
Amount | £483,099 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/I030239/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 07/2011 |
End | 06/2013 |
Description | EPSRC: LIbHPC II |
Amount | £726,567 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/K038788/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 07/2013 |
End | 06/2015 |
Description | EPSRC: Streak Instability |
Amount | £353,257 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/F045093/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 07/2008 |
End | 06/2011 |
Title | Nektar++ v 4.0 |
Description | An openware spectral element framework for transient problems such as fluid mechanics |
Type Of Technology | Software |
Year Produced | 2008 |
Open Source License? | Yes |
Impact | The software is being used by a number of national and international groups and our web site is currently being visited up to 100 times a day according to google analytics |
URL | http://www.nektar.info |