Single-Step Stereolithography of Complex Anatomical Models for Optical Flow Measurements

Abstract

Transparent stereolithographic rapid prototyping (RP) technology has already demonstrated in literature to be a practical model construction tool for optical flow measurements such as digital particle image velocimetry (DPIV), laser doppler velocimetry (LDV), and flow visualization. Here, we employ recently available transparent RP resins and eliminate time-consuming casting and chemical curing steps from the traditional approach. This note details our methodology with relevant material properties and highlights its advantages. Stereolithographic model printing with our procedure is now a direct single-step process, enabling faster geometric replication of complex computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models for exact experimental validation studies. This methodology is specifically applied to the in vitro flow modeling of patient-specific total cavopulmonary connection (TCPC) morphologies. The effect of RP machining grooves, surface quality, and hydrodynamic performance measurements as compared with the smooth glass models are also quantified.