Investigation of Saccadic Eye Movement Effects on the Fluid Dynamic in the Anterior Chamber

The aqueous humor (AH) flow in the anterior chamber (AC) due to saccadic movements is investigated in this research. The continuity, Navier-Stokes and energy equations in 3D and unsteady forms are solved numerically and the saccadic motion was modeled by the dynamic mesh technique. Firstly, the numerical model was validated for the saccadic movement of a spherical cavity with analytic solutions and experimental data where excellent agreement was observed. Then, two types of periodic and realistic saccadic motions of the AC are simulated, whereby the flow field is computed for various saccade amplitudes and the results are reported for different times. The results show that the acting shear stress on the corneal endothelial cells from AH due to saccadic movements is much higher than that due to normal AH flow by buoyancy induced due to temperature gradient. This shear stress is higher on the central region of the cornea. The results also depict that eye saccade imposes a 3D complicated flow field in the AC consist of various vortex structures. Finally, the enchantment of heat transfer in the AC by AH mixing as a result of saccadic motion is investigated. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4005762]