Prasad Patnaik B S V

The dynamics of slosh induced wave systems in shallow water tanks is analyzed for various excitation conditions. Shake table experiments have been systematically performed to understand the complex interaction of multi-wave system under harmonic excitation. From the experiments, it was observed that, for relatively large excitation amplitudes, the hydraulic jumps emanated around the resonance region. The hydraulic jump phenomenon is further explored for different tank aspect ratios, i.e, 2.5 ≤L∕B≤ 4.038. To establish the frequency bounds for hydraulic jumps, excitation amplitude and frequency are demarcated over the range of 0.841 ≤β≤ 1.628 and liquid depth range of 0.034 ≤h∕L≤0.069. The experimental bounds are juxtaposed with the theoretical bounds to analyze the margins present in hydraulic jumps. Although, the theoretical bound is independent of liquid depth, experimental observations clearly indicate a strong dependency.

Present study explores liquid sloshing in a three-dimensional (3D) rectangular tank subjected to surge and coupled surge, sway and heave excitations. A number of applications of practical interest in nuclear systems such as, spent fuel storage tanks, fast reactor vessels, pool type coolant etc will be benefited from such analysis. Effect of harmonic excitation is investigated emphasizing finite liquid depth when the internal resonance condition 1:1 is satisfied between the natural frequencies of dominant modes (1,0), (0,1) and (0,2). The numerical model was validated against available in–house experimental shake table studies. Temporal snapshots of velocity magnitudes and free surface time history at different locations are presented when the tank is excited under two different loading conditions. The amplification of diagonal slosh modes were observed under planar excitation. This analysis assumes significance, as the attendant hydrodynamic forces could eventually cause fatigue failure of the tank structure. Non-linear square-like, swirling and wave breaking features were observed, when the tank was subjected to earthquake excitation.

In the current clinical practice, the rupture risk prediction of fusiform aneurysms is based on maximum diameter. This approach does not account for the size and shape dependent cyclic stresses arising due to fluid-solid interaction (FSI). Previous fluid-structure interaction studies by the authors on model two dimensional fusiform aneurysms (abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA)) has revealed that the maximum diameter to height ratio (DHr) could possibly be used as a critical parameter, since it can signify the hemodynamic and biomechanical stresses [7]. Hence the present study assesses whether the observations from the shape index based 2D simulations hold good in realistic 3D conditions as well. Based on the preliminary investigations, it is hypothesized, that a combination of Dmax and DHr would be a better indicator of rupture risk.

Particle-based methods such as smoothed particle hydrodynamics and dissipative particle dynamics are apt for simulating particle-like suspensions in blood. The blood flow through the microvasculature and its dynamics is strongly influenced by the dominant suspensions, and the red blood cells (RBCs) in plasma. The deformation dynamics of RBCs flowing through capillaries is of practical importance to be able to exploit the understanding for device development. In the present study, dynamics of a pair of RBCs flowing through a symmetric and an asymmetric bifurcating microfluidic channel are simulated. The finite-sized dissipative particle dynamics framework in conjunction with a discrete model for the RBCs is employed to model the system. When the RBCs flow through a bifurcating channel, the cell shape, deformability and flow rate ratios through the daughter branches are investigated. The deformed shape of RBC at the bifurcating channel’s tip was found to compare well with experimental observations. It was found that for flow through an asymmetric bifurcating channel, RBC near the separating streamline passed through the low flow rate branch, although lateral migration was observed. The trade-off effects and following effects of the two RBCs were particularly noticed in symmetric bifurcation. In the case of RBCs moving as a pair, it was found that the cell–cell interactions influence the path selection of RBCs as it approaches the tip of bifurcation. Specifically, RBC motion towards the low flow rate branch was observed.

Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) is fast emerging as a practically useful computational simulation tool for a wide variety of engineering problems. SPH is also gaining popularity as the back bone for fast and realistic animations in graphics and video games. The Lagrangian and mesh-free nature of the method facilitates fast and accurate simulation of material deformation, interface capture, etc. Typically, particle-based methods would necessitate particle search and locate algorithms to be implemented efficiently, as continuous creation of neighbor particle lists is a computationally expensive step. Hence, it is advantageous to implement SPH, on modern multi-core platforms with the help of High-Performance Computing (HPC) tools. In this work, the computational performance of an SPH algorithm is assessed on multi-core Central Processing Unit (CPU) as well as massively parallel General Purpose Graphical Processing Units (GP-GPU). Parallelizing SPH faces several challenges such as, scalability of the neighbor search process, force calculations, minimizing thread divergence, achieving coalesced memory access patterns, balancing workload, ensuring optimum use of computational resources, etc. While addressing some of these challenges, detailed analysis of performance metrics such as speedup, global load efficiency, global store efficiency, warp execution efficiency, occupancy, etc. is evaluated. The OpenMP and Compute Unified Device Architecture(CUDA) parallel programming models have been used for parallel computing on Intel Xeon(R) E5-2630 multi-core CPU and NVIDIA Quadro M4000 and NVIDIA Tesla p100 massively parallel GPU architectures. Standard benchmark problems from the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) literature are chosen for the validation. The key concern of how to identify a suitable architecture for mesh-less methods which essentially require heavy workload of neighbor search and evaluation of local force fields from neighbor interactions is addressed.

Background and Objective: Analysis and prediction of rupture risk of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) facilitates planning for surgical interventions and assessment of plausible treatment modalities. Present approach of using maximum diameter criterion, is giving way to hemodynamic and bio-mechanical based predictors in conjunction with Computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations. Detailed studies on hemodynamic and bio-mechanical parameters at the stage of maximum growth/rupture is of practical importance to the clinical community. However, understanding the changes in these parameters at different stages of growth, will be useful for clinicians, in planning routine monitoring to reduce the risk of sudden rupture. This is particularly useful in medical resource starved nations. Present study investigates the hemodynamic and bio-mechanical changes occurring during the growth stages of aortic aneurysms using fluid structure interaction (FSI) studies. Method: Six idealized fusiform aneurysm models spanning high (shorter) and low (longer) values of the shape index (DHr), have been analysed at three different stages of growth viz, a Dmax of 3.5cm, 4.25cm, 5cm. Pulsatile Newtonian blood flow, passing through an elastic arterial vessel wall with uniform thickness is assumed. Two-way coupled fluid structure interaction have been employed for the numerical simulation of blood flow dynamics and arterial wall mechanics. Results: Wall shear stress (WSS) parameters and vonmises stress indicators, co-relating rupture and thrombus formation, have been extracted and reported, at each growth stage. When the aneurysm progresses in diameter, the areas recording abnormally low TAWSS, as well as areas of high/low OSI were found to increase at different rates for shorter and longer aneurysms. Moreover, drastic increase in the maximum wall stresses (MWS) and wall displacement were observed as the aneurysm approached the critical diameter. Conclusion: Hemodynamic predictors were found to be highly dependent on the shape index (DHr), when the aneurysm was small, whereas significant influence of DHr on the wall stresses happens, as the aneurysm approaches the critical diameter. Inconsistent variation of these indicators exhibited by shorter aneurysms (high DHr) at different growth stages, demands routine monitoring (using scans), of such aneurysms, to prevent unexpected rupture.

Understanding and control of wake vortices past a circular cylinder is a cardinal problem of interest to ocean engineering. The wake formation and vortex shedding behind a variety of ocean structures such as spars, are subjected to fatigue failure limiting their life span. The additional influences due to ocean waves and currents further exacerbate these effects. In the present study, flow past an isolated circular cylindrical structure subjected to an oscillatory upstream are numerically investigated. These studies involve high resolution simulations over the low Reynolds number range (100–200). Although the practical range of interest is in high Reynolds number range of 103 - 105, the flow physics and a number of qualitative and quantitative aspects are similar to the low Reynolds number flows. In the high Reynolds number range, statistical averaging tools in conjunction with suitable closure models would be necessary. The control of wake vortices is achieved with the aid of two small rotors located in the aft of the main cylinder. A control algorithm was coupled to determine the quantum of actuation to the rotating elements. Although control of wake vortices was observed for harmonic in-let forcing, residual vortical structures were found to persist at higher amplitudes of oscillation. To study the efficacy of this control, numerical simulations were further extended, when the circular cylinder was flexibly mounted. The control of flow induced vibrations was observed to be reasonably effective in controlling the wake generated behind the main cylinder due to oscillatory upstream.

An experimental study is conducted to investigate the frequency dependent decay of free-surface water waves in a sloshing tank with partially-submerged floating plastic balls on the free-surface. The present study is motivated by the need to understand the possible mechanisms for ocean wave decay in the marginal ice zone. Laboratory experiments are performed to estimate the wave decay rate due to floating balls representing ice floes. The decay rates with the balls are sufficiently greater than the decay rates without the balls and we assume the effect of the balls dominates the decay. The temporal decay rates of the free-surface wave amplitudes are measured for a small excitation amplitude and different water-depths. The decay rates for the first and third modes of sloshing are extracted, even when these two modes are combined. It is shown that the decay rates obtained from the present study match with the exponent three power-law dependence on wave frequency as observed for the decay rates in the marginal ice zone. This matching of exponent suggests that the same mechanism may be responsible for both types of decay.

Differences in the dynamics and transport of blood make certain regions of the arterial network the preferred sites for initiation and formation of arterial diseases like stenosis and aneurysms. Understanding of such arterial diseases is directly linked to critical hemodynamic parameters such as the wall shear stress (WSS). The present work generalises the influence of WSS on the concentration of LDL that was observed in an earlier study. To this end, a wide variety of simplified flow domain, inspired by the near-wall regions of aneurysms and stenosis, are constructed and analyzed. The effects of pulsatile inflow condition, rheology of blood and curvature of the wall on the correlation between WSS and LDL concentration are investigated. It is demonstrated that the time-scale of variation of lumen-surface-concentration (LSC) of LDL is larger than a single cardiac cycle. As a consequence, the time-average values of WSS are sufficient to locate the regions of higher LSC. This idea is strengthened by making use of simplified flow domain that generates moving stagnation point. Further, it was observed that the rheology of the blood and curvature of the wall does not affect the observed correlation between the WSS and LDL concentration.

Recent advancements in medical imaging techniques have enabled the accurate identification of unruptured intracranial aneurysms. To facilitate a proper patient management strategy, it is important to develop suitable mathematical models for their rupture prediction. To this end, the development of high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations with patient-specific boundary conditions will be useful in providing reliable hemodynamic parameters. In recent review articles, researchers have pointed out that, among several clinical and image-based indicators, morphological parameters, such as aspect ratio (AR) and size ratio (SR) of the aneurysm, correlated consistently with the rupture mechanism. However, it is not clear how these morphological indicators influence the hemodynamics-based CFD predictions. In the present work, the effect of these top-ranked morphological parameters on aneurysm hemodynamics and rupture prediction is investigated. Three patient-specific models have been used for analysis with the patient-specific inlet boundary conditions. We found that with an increase in AR and SR, the maximum value of wall shear stress (WSS) near the aneurysm neck is increased. Oscillatory shear index and relative residence time values are also increased with an increase in AR and SR. Furthermore, it was observed that an aneurysm with a multilobed structure shows complex flow, low WSS, and higher residence time over the secondary lobe. The turbulent kinetic energy and vorticity near the aneurysm neck are also increased with an increase in AR and SR.