Computational Simulation and Experimental Research of Flow Rates in Coaxial Fluids for Fabricating Hydrogel Fibers

As one of the biomanufacturing technologies, 3D bioprinting is becoming one effective way to solve the issues in tissue engineered constructs. In order to produce 3D cell-laden scaffolds to overcome the main technological barrier in cell distribution and nutrient supply and better mimic the in vivo cellular environment, hydrogel fibers were used to deposit in 3D bioprinting system and obtain the 3D cell-laden hydrogel structures. In the present work, we investigate the effects of flow rates on the dimensions of hydrogel fibers. The volume of fluid model by the computational fluid dynamics software package FLUENT 6.3.26 is applied to obtain the appropriate flow rates to produce hydrogel fibers. Different flow pattern in the coaxial model is obtained. In addition, a coaxial nozzle was used to fabricate hydrogel fibers under various flow rates to know its’ effects on the dimension of hydrogel fibers.