Unstructured hexahedral mesh generation of complex vascular trees using a multi-block grid-based approach

Area of Science:

• Computational fluid dynamics
• Medical imaging and simulation
• Biomedical engineering

Background:

• Realistic numerical models of patient-specific vascular structures require significant computational resources.
• Traditional hexahedral grids reduce computation time but increase operator time and decrease cell quality for complex geometries.
• Existing hexahedral meshing methods often lack local refinement capabilities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel hexahedral meshing approach combining automated multi-block structures and a grid-based method.
• To overcome limitations of existing meshing techniques for complex vascular geometries.
• To assess the robustness and performance of the proposed hexahedral meshing method.

Main Methods:

• Development of an automated multi-block hexahedral meshing technique.
• Application of the novel meshing approach to complex vascular geometries (aneurysms, stenoses, bifurcations).
• Performance evaluation through numerical simulations, including grid sensitivity analysis and fluid-structure interaction.

Main Results:

• The novel hexahedral meshing approach demonstrates robustness on complex vascular geometries.
• Grid sensitivity analysis shows comparable or improved performance against tetrahedral grids.
• Local grid refinement capability is successfully demonstrated in fluid-structure interaction simulations.

Conclusions:

• The proposed hexahedral meshing method effectively addresses limitations of traditional approaches for complex vascular modeling.
• This technique offers a balance between reduced computational cost and improved operator efficiency.
• The approach facilitates more accurate and efficient patient-specific vascular simulations.