Fluid-Structure Interaction Analysis of Human Eye with Descemet Membrane Detachment.

Abstract

Detachment of Descemet membrane (DM) is a defect that occurs in the cornea of the human eye. Most previous examinations have focused on relatively simple benchmarks, excluding the complex interaction between intraocular fluid flow and delicate ocular structures such as the Descemet membrane, particularly in detachment issues. This paper simulates the detached DM as a flexible membrane to explore the convection inside the anterior chamber (AC) of human eye and to evaluate the cornea transplantation processes. The analysis is conducted numerically by considering the mixed heat transmission and the fluid-structure interaction (FSI) within a geometry representing the AC. The study of FSI facilitates the simulation of different elasticity modulus E of the detached DM ( <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mrow><mi>E</mi> <mo>=</mo> <msup><mn>10</mn> <mn>8</mn></msup> </mrow> </math> to <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><msup><mn>10</mn> <mn>11</mn></msup> </math> ), which enables the study of various corneas implemented in transplantation processes. Rayleigh number is varied from <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><msup><mn>10</mn> <mn>3</mn></msup> </math> to <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><msup><mn>10</mn> <mn>6</mn></msup> </math> to simulate thermal therapy of temperature difference from 0.25 to 250 K. The length of the iris accounts the length of the contacting part of the lens S having the isothermal hot temperature is also explored. Results reveal that the cornea type affects the stress imparted on the DDM and does not affect the thermal characteristics or the displacement within the anterior chamber. The shrinkage of the iris elevates the convective thermal characteristic by about 78%. Elevating the thermal therapy <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mrow><mi>Δ</mi> <mi>T</mi></mrow> </math> from 2.5 to 25 K promotes the heat transfer by 47.6%.