In silico study of fluid-structure interaction in scaffold for adipose tissue engineering

Taking into account the biphasic composition of the adipose tissue it is essential to identify the influence of the fluid phase on the mechanical properties of a tissue-engineered scaffolds. This thesis aims to characterise the mechanical behaviour of an engineered scaffold for adipose tissue. Developing a computational framework enables to identify of the parameters of the scaffold and fluid flow affecting the structure's mechanical properties, thereby reducing time and cost. Using an Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) method, multiple in silico analyses are developed. To reduce the computational costs, the mechanical properties of the scaffold are initially determined by considering a single spherical shell-based unit cell. A comparison is performed between the stresses exhibited in the compressed construct in three different environments. -When a fluid is modelled as Eulerian and a solid as Lagrangian, also the mutual exchange between the fluid and the solid phase is considered. -In the absence of a fluid phase, only the mechanical behaviour of the solid under external loads is observed -Finally, the fluid phase is modelled using a Lagrangian method and defined as a filler. Subsequently, a 2x1 scaffold is designed using the aforementioned unit cells. The same analysis mentioned before is developed for the new geometry, ensuring the ability to perform analysis on complex scaffolds rather than just fundamental cell.