Computational Investigation of the Fluidic Properties of Triply Periodic Minimal Surface (TPMS) Structures in Tissue Engineering

Abstract

Tissue engineering, a rapidly advancing field in medicine, has made significant strides with the development of artificial tissue substitutes to meet the growing need for organ transplants. Three-dimensional (3D) porous scaffolds are widely utilized in tissue engineering, especially in orthopedic surgery. This study investigated the fluidic properties of diamond and gyroid structures with varying porosity levels (50–80%) using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis. The pressure and velocity distributions were analyzed, and it was observed that the pressure decreased gradually, whereas the velocity increased in the central area of the surface structures. Specifically, the pressure drop ranged from 2.079 to 0.984 Pa for the diamond structure and from 1.669 to 0.943 Pa for the gyroid structure as the porosity increased from 50% to 80%. It was also found that the permeability increased as the porosity level increased, with values ranging from 2.424×10−9 to 5.122×10−9 m2 for the diamond structure and from 2.966×10−9 to 5.344×10−9 m2 for the gyroid structure. The wall shear stress (WSS) was also analyzed, showing a consistent decrease with increased porosity for both types of structures, with WSS values ranging from 9.903×10−2 to 9.840×10−1 Pa for the diamond structure and from 1.150×10−1 to 7.717×10−2 Pa for the gyroid structure. Overall, this study provides insights into the fluidic properties of diamond and gyroid structures, which can be useful in various applications such as tissue engineering.

Keywords

• tissue engineering
• computational fluid dynamics
• triply periodic minimal surfaces
• gyroid
• diamond
• porosity