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Now showing 1 - 10 of 27
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    Inversion-recovery MR elastography of the human brain for improved stiffness quantification near fluid-solid boundaries
    (New York, NY [u.a.] : Wiley-Liss, 2021) Lilaj, Ledia; Herthum, Helge; Meyer, Tom; Shahryari, Mehrgan; Bertalan, Gergely; Caiazzo, Alfonso; Braun, Jürgen; Fischer, Thomas; Hirsch, Sebastian; Sack, Ingolf
    Purpose: In vivo MR elastography (MRE) holds promise as a neuroimaging marker. In cerebral MRE, shear waves are introduced into the brain, which also stimulate vibrations in adjacent CSF, resulting in blurring and biased stiffness values near brain surfaces. We here propose inversion-recovery MRE (IR-MRE) to suppress CSF signal and improve stiffness quantification in brain surface areas. Methods: Inversion-recovery MRE was demonstrated in agar-based phantoms with solid-fluid interfaces and 11 healthy volunteers using 31.25-Hz harmonic vibrations. It was performed by standard single-shot, spin-echo EPI MRE following 2800-ms IR preparation. Wave fields were acquired in 10 axial slices and analyzed for shear wave speed (SWS) as a surrogate marker of tissue stiffness by wavenumber-based multicomponent inversion. Results: Phantom SWS values near fluid interfaces were 7.5 ± 3.0% higher in IR-MRE than MRE (P =.01). In the brain, IR-MRE SNR was 17% lower than in MRE, without influencing parenchymal SWS (MRE: 1.38 ± 0.02 m/s; IR-MRE: 1.39 ± 0.03 m/s; P =.18). The IR-MRE tissue–CSF interfaces appeared sharper, showing 10% higher SWS near brain surfaces (MRE: 1.01 ± 0.03 m/s; IR-MRE: 1.11 ± 0.01 m/s; P <.001) and 39% smaller ventricle sizes than MRE (P <.001). Conclusions: Our results show that brain MRE is affected by fluid oscillations that can be suppressed by IR-MRE, which improves the depiction of anatomy in stiffness maps and the quantification of stiffness values in brain surface areas. Moreover, we measured similar stiffness values in brain parenchyma with and without fluid suppression, which indicates that shear wavelengths in solid and fluid compartments are identical, consistent with the theory of biphasic poroelastic media. © 2021 The Authors. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine
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    Multiscale Coupling of One-dimensional Vascular Models and Elastic Tissues
    (Dordrecht [u.a.] : Springer Science + Business Media B.V, 2021) Heltai, Luca; Caiazzo, Alfonso; Müller, Lucas O.
    We present a computational multiscale model for the efficient simulation of vascularized tissues, composed of an elastic three-dimensional matrix and a vascular network. The effect of blood vessel pressure on the elastic tissue is surrogated via hyper-singular forcing terms in the elasticity equations, which depend on the fluid pressure. In turn, the blood flow in vessels is treated as a one-dimensional network. Intravascular pressure and velocity are simulated using a high-order finite volume scheme, while the elasticity equations for the tissue are solved using a finite element method. This work addresses the feasibility and the potential of the proposed coupled multiscale model. In particular, we assess whether the multiscale model is able to reproduce the tissue response at the effective scale (of the order of millimeters) while modeling the vasculature at the microscale. We validate the multiscale method against a full scale (three-dimensional) model, where the fluid/tissue interface is fully discretized and treated as a Neumann boundary for the elasticity equation. Next, we present simulation results obtained with the proposed approach in a realistic scenario, demonstrating that the method can robustly and efficiently handle the one-way coupling between complex fluid microstructures and the elastic matrix. © 2021, The Author(s).
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    Modeling, simulation, and optimization of geothermal energy production from hot sedimentary aquifers
    (New York, NY [u.a.] : Springer Science + Business Media B.V., 2020) Blank, Laura; Rioseco, Ernesto Meneses; Caiazzo, Alfonso; Wilbrandt, Ulrich
    Geothermal district heating development has been gaining momentum in Europe with numerous deep geothermal installations and projects currently under development. With the increasing density of geothermal wells, questions related to the optimal and sustainable reservoir exploitation become more and more important. A quantitative understanding of the complex thermo-hydraulic interaction between tightly deployed geothermal wells in heterogeneous temperature and permeability fields is key for a maximum sustainable use of geothermal resources. Motivated by the geological settings of the Upper Jurassic aquifer in the Greater Munich region, we develop a computational model based on finite element analysis and gradient-free optimization to simulate groundwater flow and heat transport in hot sedimentary aquifers, and numerically investigate the optimal positioning and spacing of multi-well systems. Based on our numerical simulations, net energy production from deep geothermal reservoirs in sedimentary basins by smart geothermal multi-well arrangements provides significant amounts of energy to meet heat demand in highly urbanized regions. Our results show that taking into account heterogeneous permeability structures and a variable reservoir temperature may drastically affect the results in the optimal configuration. We demonstrate that the proposed numerical framework is able to efficiently handle generic geometrical and geological configurations, and can be thus flexibly used in the context of multi-variable optimization problems. Hence, this numerical framework can be used to assess the extractable geothermal energy from heterogeneous deep geothermal reservoirs by the optimized deployment of smart multi-well systems. © 2020, The Author(s).
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    On the feasibility of using open source solvers for the simulation of a turbulent air flow in a dairy barn
    (Amsterdam [u.a.] : Elsevier, 2020) Janke, David; Caiazzo, Alfonso; Ahmed, Naveed; Alia, Najib; Knoth, Oswald; Moreau, Baptiste; Wilbrandt, Ulrich; Willink, Dilya; Amon, Thomas; John, Volker
    Two transient open source solvers, OpenFOAM and ParMooN, and the commercial solver Ansys Fluent are assessed with respect to the simulation of the turbulent air flow inside and around a dairy barn. For this purpose, data were obtained in an experimental campaign at a 1:100 scaled wind tunnel model. All solvers used different meshes, discretization schemes, and turbulence models. The experimental data and numerical results agree well for time-averaged stream-wise and vertical-wise velocities. In particular, the air exchange was predicted with high accuracy by both open source solvers with relative differences less than 4% and by the commercial solver with a relative difference of 9% compared to the experimental results. With respect to the turbulent quantities, good agreements at the second (downwind) half of the barn inside and especially outside the barn could be achieved, where all codes accurately predicted the flow separation and, in many cases, the root-mean-square velocities. Deviations between simulations and experimental results regarding turbulent quantities could be observed in the first part of the barn. These deviations can be attributed to the utilization of roughness elements between inlet and barn in the experiment that were not modeled in the numerical simulations. Both open source solvers proved to be promising tools for the accurate prediction of time-dependent phenomena in an agricultural context, e.g., like the transport of particulate matter or pathogen-laden aerosols in and around agricultural buildings. © 2020 The Authors
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    An assessment of discretizations for convection-dominated convection-diffusion equations
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2011) Augustin, Matthias; Caiazzo, Alfonso; Fiebach, André; Fuhrmann, Jürgen; John, Volker; Linke, Alexander; Umla, Rudolf
    The performance of several numerical schemes for discretizing convection-dominated convection-diffusion equations will be investigated with respect to accuracy and efficiency. Accuracy is considered in measures which are of interest in applications. The study includes an exponentially fitted finite volume scheme, the Streamline-Upwind Petrov--Galerkin (SUPG) finite element method, a spurious oscillations at layers diminishing (SOLD) finite element method, a finite element method with continuous interior penalty (CIP) stabilization, a discontinuous Galerkin (DG) finite element method, and a total variation diminishing finite element method (FEMTVD). A detailed assessment of the schemes based on the Hemker example will be presented.
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    A reduced-order modeling for efficient design study of artificial valve in enlarged ventricular outflow tracts
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2015) Caiazzo, Alfonso; Guibert, Romain; Vignon-Clementel, Irene E.
    A computational approach is proposed for efficient design study of a reducer stent to be percutaneously implanted in enlarged right ventricular outflow tracts (RVOT). The need for such a device is driven by the absence of bovine or artificial valves which could be implanted in these RVOT to replace the absent or incompetent native valve, as is often the case over time after Tetralogy of Fallot repair. Hemodynamics are simulated in the stented RVOT via a reduce order model based on proper orthogonal decomposition (POD), while the artificial valve is modeled as a thin resistive surface. The reduced order model is obtained from the numerical solution on a reference device configuration, then varying the geometrical parameters (diameter) for design purposes. To validate the approach, forces exerted on the valve and on the reducer are monitored, varying with geometrical parameters, and compared with the results of full CFD simulations. Such an approach could also be useful for uncertainty quantification. Device design, percutaneous pulmonary valve replacement, proper orthogonal decomposition (POD), finite element method, blood flow CFD, repaired Tetralogy of Fallot.
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    Reconstruction of quasi-local numerical effective models from low-resolution measurements
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2019) Caiazzo, Alfonso; Maier, Roland; Peterseim, Daniel
    We consider the inverse problem of reconstructing an effective model for a prototypical diffusion process in strongly heterogeneous media based on low-resolution measurements. We rely on recent quasi-local numerical effective models that, in contrast to conventional homogenized models, are provably reliable beyond periodicity assumptions and scale separation. The goal of this work is to show that the identification of the matrix representation of these effective models is possible. Algorithmic aspects of the inversion procedure and its performance are illustrated in a series of numerical experiments.
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    Reduced-order unscented Kalman filter in the frequency domain: Application to computational hemodynamics
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2018) Müller, Lucas O.; Caiazzo, Alfonso; Blanco, Pablo J.
    Objective: The aim of this work is to assess the potential of the reduced order unscented Kalman filter (ROUKF) in the context of computational hemodynamics, in order to estimate cardiovascular model parameters when employing real patient-specific data. Methods: The approach combines an efficient blood flow solver for one-dimensional networks (for the forward problem) with the parameter estimation problem cast in the frequency space. Namely, the ROUKF is used to correct model parameter after each cardiac cycle, depending on the discrepancies of model outputs with respect to available observations properly mapped into the frequency space. Results: First we validate the filter in frequency domain applying it in the context of a set of experimental measurements for an in vitro model. Second, we perform different numerical experiments aiming at parameter estimation using patient-specific data. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that the filter in frequency domain allows a faster and more robust parameter estimation, when compared to its time domain counterpart. Moreover, the proposed approach allows to estimate parameters that are not directly related to the network but are crucial for targeting inter-individual parameter variability (e.g., parameters that characterize the cardiac output). Significance: The ROUKF in frequency domain provides a robust and flexible tool for estimating parameters related to cardiovascular mathematical models using in vivo data.
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    Multiscale coupling of one-dimensional vascular models and elastic tissues
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2021) Heltai, Luca; Caiazzo, Alfonso; Müller, Lucas O.
    We present a computational multiscale model for the efficient simulation of vascularized tissues, composed of an elastic three-dimensional matrix and a vascular network. The effect of blood vessel pressure on the elastic tissue is surrogated via hyper-singular forcing terms in the elasticity equations, which depend on the fluid pressure. In turn, the blood flow in vessels is treated as a one-dimensional network. The pressure and velocity of the blood in the vessels are simulated using a high-order finite volume scheme, while the elasticity equations for the tissue are solved using a finite element method. This work addresses the feasibility and the potential of the proposed coupled multiscale model. In particular, we assess whether the multiscale model is able to reproduce the tissue response at the effective scale (of the order of millimeters) while modeling the vasculature at the microscale. We validate the multiscale method against a full scale (three-dimensional) model, where the fluid/tissue interface is fully discretized and treated as a Neumann boundary for the elasticity equation. Next, we present simulation results obtained with the proposed approach in a realistic scenario, demonstrating that the method can robustly and efficiently handle the one-way coupling between complex fluid microstructures and the elastic matrix.
  • Item
    On the feasibility of using open source solvers for the simulation of a turbulent air flow in a dairy barn
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2019) Janke, David; Caiazzo, Alfonso; Ahmed, Naveed; Alia, Najib; Knoth, Oswald; Moreau, Baptiste; Wilbrandt, Ulrich; Willink, Dilya; Amon, Thomas; John, Volker
    Two transient open source solvers, OpenFOAM and ParMooN, are assessed with respect to the simulation of the turbulent air flow inside and around a dairy barn. For this purpose, data were obtained in an experimental campaign at a 1:100 scaled wind tunnel model. Both solvers used different meshes, discretization schemes, and turbulence models. The experimental data and numerical results agree well for time-averaged stream-wise and vertical-wise velocities. In particular, the air exchange was predicted with high accuracy by both solvers with relative errors less than 5 % compared to the experimental results. With respect to the turbulent quantities, good agreements at the second (downwind) half of the barn inside and especially outside the barn could be achieved, where both codes accurately predicted the flow separation and the root-mean-square velocities. Deviations between simulations and experimental results regarding turbulent quantities could be observed in the first part of the barn, due to different inlet conditions between the experimental setup and the numerical simulations. Both solvers proved to be promising tools for the accurate prediction of time-dependent phenomena in an agricultural context, e.g., like the transport of particulate matter or pathogen-laden aerosols in and around agricultural buildings.