Experimental study and CFD/ FEA simulations of the fluid-structure interactions in a 3D printing process

• Main Author: Nursyafiq Hirdafi Koh Nur Iman Koh
• Other Authors: Chan Wai Lee
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2020
• Subjects: Engineering::Mechanical engineering::Mechanics and dynamics; Engineering::Mechanical engineering::Fluid mechanics
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/141129
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

In 3D bioprinting, cells are encapsulated in a shell like structure called alginate hydrogels and suspended in a fluid known as bioink. Through the printing process, the alginate hydrogel particle deformed under fluid pressure and shear stresses. This deformation causes a reduction in the cells proliferation and viability during the extrusion process. Furthermore, due to the micro visibility of the particle size and the experimental set-up, a simulation study will come in useful in studying the mechanical behaviour and responses of the alginate hydrogel under the fluid stresses. In this simulation study, a one-way coupling method between computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and finite element analysis (FEA) was be carried out. The FEA portion will be the main focus of this report. In this report, the particle was modelled on Abaqus as a half-circle model with a hyper-elastic material. Using the pressure and shear loads extracted from CFD using Fluent, these data were imported into Abaqus through processing in Matlab. Two variations of study were carried out; one using the original undeformed geometry as the input shape at each time step and secondly, a continuous deformation of the geometry through the time step. The results were then plotted on a graph with respect to the eccentricity of the deformation.