Coupling Poroelasticity and CFD for Cerebrospinal Fluid Hydrodynamics

This research uses a novel coupling of poroelastic theory and computational fluid dynamics to investigate acute hydrocephalus resulting from stenosis of the cerebral aqueduct. By coupling poroelastic theory with a multidimensional simulation of the cerebral aqueduct we are able to investigate, for the first time, the impact of physically relevant stenosis patterns on ventricular enlargement, accounting for the nonintuitive long time history responses of the ventricular system. Preliminary findings demonstrate clearly the importance that the fluidic-poroelastic coupling plays: ventricular enlargement is significantly smaller with local stenosis patterns and almost all of the observable pressure drop occurs across the stenosis. Short timescale effects [O(heartbeat)] are explored and their contribution to the long timescales interrogated.