A Reduced-Order Fluid-Structure Interaction Model for Vocal Fold Vibration

Three-dimensional (3D) accurate modeling of the fluid-structure interaction (FSI) for the vocal fold is useful for medical applications such as patient-specific surgery planning. However, unknown material properties of the vocal fold tissue for individual patients limit the fidelity of such models. In addition, high computational cost associated with 3D FSI models hinders their extensive use in the design optimization of surgical implants. In our work, we aim to develop a reduced-order FSI model that balances between computational cost and accuracy. Such model will be used for repeated rapid simulations in 1) estimation of unknown modeling parameters and 2) optimization of the implant in the procedure of medialization laryngothyroplasty. In this model, the 3D anatomy of the vocal fold is retained, and the nonlinear tissue mechanics is solved with a finite-element method. However, the flow is simplified to a one-dimensional momentum equation based model incorporating the entrance and viscous effects. The performance of this FSI model will be compared with the 3D FSI simulation, as well as a simple Bernoulli based flow model.