A Computational Based Design and Optimization Study of Scaffold Architectures

Printed and reproducible scaffolds with regular structures are receiving an increased interest in tissue engineering since they offer greater control of the scaffold porosity, and pore size, and better prediction of the fluid flow inside the scaffold. One of the most important factors that must be examined before the construction of a scaffold for experimental use is the shear stress, which depends strongly on the geometrical characteristics of the scaffold. In this work, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations are carried out for four different scaffold architectures and various porosities and pore sizes. The calculated shear stresses are used for investigating the relation between the shear stress and the scaffold architecture, the scaffold design parameters and the Darcian permeability factor. It is found that for each scaffold model there is a critical porosity and a critical permeability factor below which the shear stress increases significantly, leading to the conclusion that such design parameters must be avoided for effective cultivation.