# A Fast High-Order CFD for Turbulent Flow Simulation in Cardio-Devices

> **NIH NIH R01** · APPLIED SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH · 2020 · $449,982

## Abstract

Project Summary
Application of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to the flow analysis and design of complex medical
devices such as prosthetic heart valves and ventricular assist devices is by now standard practice in the
medical devices research and development community. However, a recent controlled study by the FDA has
demonstrated the limitations of traditional CFD in predicting laminar-transitional-turbulent flows of relevance to
cardiovascular devices. In particular, no statistical turbulence model used in the medical devices community
benchmarked uniformly successfully against experimental data. Large Eddy Simulation (LES) was
recommended in this study for future simulations.
To address the recommendation of the FDA panel to use LES in future simulations we propose to develop an
advanced new-generation CFD for low-Reynolds-number turbulent flows of relevance to the NIH mission,
using (1) a high-order Eulerian vorticity transport method for LES in the boundary layer region, and Direct
Numerical Simulation (DNS) in the immediate vicinity of the boundary; and (2) an existing meshless
Lagrangian Vortex Method (LVM) for LES of the large scale flow away from the boundary layer. The velocity
evaluations, which constitute roughly 80% of the computational cost, will be parallelized on multicore CPUs
and multi-GPUs. The Specific Aims of the project are:
Specific Aim 1: To develop a compact high-order finite volume method for laminar flow simulation via the
vorticity transport equation (VTE); to accelerate the velocity evaluations on multicore CPUs and multi-GPUs;
and to rigorously validate the laminar flow code using, among others, the FDA "Critical Path" problem #1
(nozzle), as well as DNS of steady and pulsatile stenotic flow.
Specific Aim 2: To develop a dynamic Subgrid-Scale (SGS) model in the context of VTE and tailored for
transitional flow; and to validate the high-order finite volume code for turbulent flow using, among others, the
FDA "Critical Path" problem #1 (nozzle), as well as steady and pulsatile stenotic flow.
Specific Aim 3: To finalize the development of the proposed hybrid code for LES of low-Reynolds-number
turbulent flow by coupling the high-order Eulerian and Lagrangian vortex element solvers, accurately and
stably; and to validate the final product using a series of benchmarks, including the FDA "Critical Path"
problems #1 (nozzle) and #2 (pump), as well as an actual blood pump; e.g., the HeartMate II.
Specific Aim 4: To implement a system for successful documentation, dissemination, and maintenance of the
software, and to accommodate collaborative research; and to develop interfaces to mainstream CFD to ensure
interoperability and seamless migration to the propsed technology.
Long-Term Impact: At present, application of traditional CFD and statistical turbulence models is limited to the
study of device performance in terms of relative trends. That is, CFD is not yet a truly predictive design and
analysis tool, at least in th...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9857591
- **Project number:** 5R01EB022180-04
- **Recipient organization:** APPLIED SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
- **Principal Investigator:** ADRIN GHARAKHANI
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $449,982
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-05-01 → 2022-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9857591

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9857591, A Fast High-Order CFD for Turbulent Flow Simulation in Cardio-Devices (5R01EB022180-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9857591. Licensed CC0.

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