Conclusion: The obtained simulations support the underlying hypothesis that the hydrostatic caloric drive is dissipated by local convective flow in a hydropic duct.
Objective: To develop a computerized model to simulate and predict the internal fluid thermodynamic behavior within both normal and hydropic horizontal ducts.
Methods: This study used a computational fluid dynamics software to simulate the effects of cooling and warming of two geometrical models representing normal and hydropic ducts of one semicircular horizontal canal during 120 s.
Results: Temperature maps, vorticity, and velocity fields were successfully obtained to characterize the endolymphatic flow during the caloric test in the developed models. In the normal semicircular canal, a well-defined endolymphatic linear flow was obtained, this flow has an opposite direction depending only on the cooling or warming condition of the simulation. For the hydropic model a non-effective endolymphatic flow was predicted; in this model the velocity and vorticity fields show a non-linear flow, with some vortices formed inside the hydropic duct.
Keywords: Caloric test; Meniere; computational fluid dynamics; endolymph; hydrops; simulation; thermodynamics; turbulence flow; vortices.