On the numerical evaluation of wall shear stress using the finite element method

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Brunátová, Jana, Dokken, Jørgen Schartum, Valen-Sendstad, Kristian, Hron, Jaroslav
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866912178278236160
author Brunátová, Jana
Dokken, Jørgen Schartum
Valen-Sendstad, Kristian
Hron, Jaroslav
author_facet Brunátová, Jana
Dokken, Jørgen Schartum
Valen-Sendstad, Kristian
Hron, Jaroslav
contents Wall shear stress (WSS) is a crucial hemodynamic quantity extensively studied in cardiovascular research, yet its numerical computation is not straightforward. This work aims to compare WSS results obtained from two different finite element discretizations, quantify the differences between continuous and discontinuous stresses, and introduce a novel method for WSS evaluation through the formulation of a boundary-flux problem. Two benchmark problems are considered - a 2D Stokes flow on a unit square and a 3D Poiseuille flow through a cylindrical pipe. These are followed by investigations of steady-state Navier-Stokes flow in two patient-specific aneurysms. The study focuses on P1/P1 stabilized and Taylor-Hood P2/P1 mixed finite elements for velocity and pressure. WSS is computed using either the proposed boundary-flux method or as a projection of tangential traction onto First order Lagrange (P1), Discontinuous Galerkin first order (DG-1), or Discontinuous Galerkin zero order (DG-0) space. For the P1/P1 stabilized element, the boundary-flux and P1 projection methods yielded equivalent results. With the P2/P1 element, the boundary-flux evaluation demonstrated faster convergence in the Poiseuille flow example but showed increased sensitivity to pressure field inaccuracies in patient-specific geometries compared to the projection method. In patient-specific cases, the P2/P1 element exhibited superior robustness to mesh size when evaluating average WSS and low shear area (LSA), outperforming the P1/P1 stabilized element. Projecting discontinuous finite element results into continuous spaces can introduce artifacts, such as the Gibbs phenomenon. Consequently, it becomes crucial to carefully select the finite element space for boundary stress calculations - not only in applications involving WSS computations for aneurysms.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2501_02987
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle On the numerical evaluation of wall shear stress using the finite element method
Brunátová, Jana
Dokken, Jørgen Schartum
Valen-Sendstad, Kristian
Hron, Jaroslav
Numerical Analysis
Wall shear stress (WSS) is a crucial hemodynamic quantity extensively studied in cardiovascular research, yet its numerical computation is not straightforward. This work aims to compare WSS results obtained from two different finite element discretizations, quantify the differences between continuous and discontinuous stresses, and introduce a novel method for WSS evaluation through the formulation of a boundary-flux problem. Two benchmark problems are considered - a 2D Stokes flow on a unit square and a 3D Poiseuille flow through a cylindrical pipe. These are followed by investigations of steady-state Navier-Stokes flow in two patient-specific aneurysms. The study focuses on P1/P1 stabilized and Taylor-Hood P2/P1 mixed finite elements for velocity and pressure. WSS is computed using either the proposed boundary-flux method or as a projection of tangential traction onto First order Lagrange (P1), Discontinuous Galerkin first order (DG-1), or Discontinuous Galerkin zero order (DG-0) space. For the P1/P1 stabilized element, the boundary-flux and P1 projection methods yielded equivalent results. With the P2/P1 element, the boundary-flux evaluation demonstrated faster convergence in the Poiseuille flow example but showed increased sensitivity to pressure field inaccuracies in patient-specific geometries compared to the projection method. In patient-specific cases, the P2/P1 element exhibited superior robustness to mesh size when evaluating average WSS and low shear area (LSA), outperforming the P1/P1 stabilized element. Projecting discontinuous finite element results into continuous spaces can introduce artifacts, such as the Gibbs phenomenon. Consequently, it becomes crucial to carefully select the finite element space for boundary stress calculations - not only in applications involving WSS computations for aneurysms.
title On the numerical evaluation of wall shear stress using the finite element method
topic Numerical Analysis
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.02987