Mesh Sensitivity Analysis for Quantitative Shear Stress Assessment in Blood Pumps Using Computational Fluid Dynamics

2018 ◽  
Vol 141 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sascha Gross-Hardt ◽  
Fiete Boehning ◽  
Ulrich Steinseifer ◽  
Thomas Schmitz-Rode ◽  
Tim A. S. Kaufmann
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Computational Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Shear Stress ◽  
Transport Model ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Characteristic Number ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Shear Stresses ◽  
Centrifugal Blood Pump ◽  
Blood Damage

The reduction of excessive, nonphysiologic shear stresses leading to blood trauma can be the key to overcome many of the associated complications in blood recirculating devices. In that regard, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) are gaining in importance for the hydraulic and hemocompatibility assessment. Still, direct hemolysis assessments with CFD remain inaccurate and limited to qualitative comparisons rather than quantitative predictions. An underestimated quantity for improved blood damage prediction accuracy is the influence of near-wall mesh resolution on shear stress quantification in regions of complex flows. This study investigated the necessary mesh refinement to quantify shear stress for two selected, meshing sensitive hotspots within a rotary centrifugal blood pump (the blade leading edge and tip clearance gap). The shear stress in these regions is elevated due to presence of stagnation points and the flow around a sharp edge. The nondimensional mesh characteristic number y+, which is known in the context of turbulence modeling, underestimated the maximum wall shear stress by 60% on average with the recommended value of 1, but was found to be exact below 0.1. To evaluate the meshing related error on the numerical hemolysis prediction, three-dimensional simulations of a generic centrifugal pump were performed with mesh sizes from 3 × 106 to 30 × 106 elements. The respective hemolysis was calculated using an Eulerian scalar transport model. Mesh insensitivity was found below a maximum y+ of 0.2 necessitating 18 × 106 mesh elements. A meshing related error of up to 25% was found for the coarser meshes. Further investigations need to address: (1) the transferability to other geometries and (2) potential adaptions on blood damage estimation models to allow better quantitative predictions.

Erosion Evaluations of a Slurry Mixer Tank With Computational Fluid Dynamics Methods

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Si Y. Lee ◽  
Richard A. Dimenna ◽  
Glenn A. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Computational Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Shear Stresses ◽  
Internal Structures ◽  
Wall Shear ◽  
Erosion Loss ◽  
Solids Content ◽  
Cfd Analyses

This paper discusses the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods to understand and characterize erosion of the floor and internal structures in the slurry mixing vessels in the Defense Waste Processing Facility. An initial literature survey helped identify the principal drivers of erosion for a solids laden fluid: the solids content of the working fluid, the regions of recirculation and particle impact with the walls, and the regions of high wall shear. A series of CFD analyses was performed to characterize slurry-flow profiles, wall shear, and particle impingement distributions in key components such as coil restraints and the vessel floor. The calculations showed that the primary locations of high erosion resulting from abrasion were at the leading edge of the coil guide, the tank floor below the insert plate of the coil guide support, and the upstream lead-in plate. These modeling results based on the calculated high shear regions were in excellent agreement with the observed erosion sites in both location and the degree of erosion. Loss of the leading edge of the coil guide due to the erosion damage during the slurry mixing operation did not affect the erosion patterns on the tank floor. Calculations for a lower impeller speed showed similar erosion patterns but significantly reduced wall shear stresses.

Computational Fluid Dynamics Characterization of a Bioreactor Mixing Device for the Animal Cell Culture

2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Valérie Gisèle Gelbgras ◽  
Christophe E Wylock ◽  
Jean-Christophe Drugmand ◽  
Benoît Haut
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Cell Culture ◽  
Computational Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Shear Stress ◽  
Cell Viability ◽  
Animal Cell ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Critical Shear Stress ◽  
Shear Stresses ◽  
A Cell

During a cell culture in a bioreactor, the cells are exposed to the shear stresses mainly generated in the culture medium by the mixing device. Beyond a critical shear stress, this exposition induces cell damages. Therefore, the limitation of the shear stress is an important criterion for the design of bioreactors. An accurate modeling of the flow and the induced shear stresses in the medium is a tool to achieve an effective design of a bioreactor. In this work, a new design of a mixing device is considered. The aims of this work are to develop a methodology to study the flow and the induced shear stresses in the device, to study and to model the relation between the flow, the induced shear stresses and the cell viability, to use the developed model as an optimization tool, and to study the design of the bioreactor mixing device and its scale-up. In a first step, the flow and the induced shear stresses in the device are simulated by Computational Fluid Dynamics. In a second step, the model of the influence of the flow and the induced shear stresses on the cell viability is established by a comparison between the computed flow and the induced shear stresses and experimental measurements of cellular viabilities for different impeller rotation speeds. Finally, the influence of another design of the mixing device on the cell viability is studied.

Normal fluid stresses are prevalent in rotary ventricular assist devices: A computational fluid dynamics analysis

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (11) ◽  
pp. 738-751 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominica PY Khoo ◽  
Andrew N Cookson ◽  
Harinderjit S Gill ◽  
Katharine H Fraser
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Computational Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Shear Stress ◽  
Normal Stress ◽  
Ventricular Assist Devices ◽  
Shear Stresses ◽  
Normal Stresses ◽  
Ventricular Assist ◽  
Assist Devices ◽  
Normal And Shear Stresses

Despite the evolution of ventricular assist devices, ventricular assist device patients still suffer from complications due to the damage to blood by fluid dynamic stress. Since rotary ventricular assist devices are assumed to exert mainly shear stress, studies of blood damage are based on shear flow experiments. However, measurements and simulations of cell and protein deformation show normal and shear stresses deform, and potentially damage, cells and proteins differently. The aim was to use computational fluid dynamics to assess the prevalence of normal stress, in comparison with shear stress, in rotary ventricular assist devices. Our calculations showed normal stresses do occur in rotary ventricular assist devices: the fluid volumes experiencing normal stress above 10 Pa were 0.011 mL (0.092%) and 0.027 mL (0.39%) for the HeartWare HVAD and HeartMate II (HMII), and normal stresses over 100 Pa were present. However, the shear stress volumes were up to two orders of magnitude larger than the normal stress volumes. Considering thresholds for red blood cell and von Willebrand factor deformation by normal and shear stresses, the fluid volumes causing deformation by normal stress were between 2.5 and 5 times the size of those causing deformation by shear stress. The exposure times to the individual normal stress deformation regions were around 1 ms. The results clearly show, for the first time, that while blood within rotary ventricular assist devices experiences more shear stress at much higher magnitudes as compared with normal stress, there is sufficient normal stress exposure present to cause deformation of, and potentially damage to, the blood components. This study is the first to quantify the fluid stress components in real blood contacting devices.

Hemodynamic Assessment of Hollow-Fiber Membrane Oxygenators Using Computational Fluid Dynamics in Heterogeneous Membrane Models

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniele Dipresa ◽  
Panagiotis Kalozoumis ◽  
Michael Pflaum ◽  
Ariana Peredo ◽  
Bettina Wiegmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Computational Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Blood Flow ◽  
Shear Stress ◽  
Hollow Fiber ◽  
Hollow Fiber Membrane ◽  
Thrombus Formation ◽  
Shear Stresses ◽  
Fiber Membrane ◽  
Hemodynamic Assessment

Abstract Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) has been used clinically for more than 40 years as a bridge to transplantation, with hollow-fiber membrane (HFM) oxygenators gaining in popularity due to their high gas transfer and low flow resistance. In spite of the technological advances in ECMO devices, the inevitable contact of the perfused blood with the polymer hollow-fiber gas-exchange membrane, and the subsequent thrombus formation, limits their clinical usage to only 2-4 weeks. In addition, the inhomogeneous flow in the device can further enhance thrombus formation and limit gas-transport efficiency. Endothelialisation of the blood contacting surfaces of ECMO devices offers a potential solution to their inherent thrombogenicity. However, abnormal shear stresses and inhomogeneous blood flow might affect the function and activation status of the seeded endothelial cells (ECs). In this study, the blood flow through two HFM oxygenators, including the commercially-available iLA® MiniLung Petite Novalung (Xenios AG, Germany) and an experimental one for the rat animal model, was modelled using computational fluid dynamics (CFD), with a view to assessing the magnitude and distribution of the shear stress on the wall of the hollow fibers and flow fields in the oxygenators. This work demonstrated significant inhomogeneity in the flow dynamics of both oxygenators, with regions of high hollow-fiber wall shear stress and regions of stagnant flow, implying both regions of increased flow-induced blood damage and a variable flow-induced stimulation on seeded ECs in a biohybrid setting.

Efficiency prediction for storage chambers using computational fluid dynamics

1996 ◽  
Vol 33 (9) ◽  
pp. 163-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virginia R. Stovin ◽  
Adrian J. Saul
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Computational Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Shear Stress ◽  
Particle Tracking ◽  
Critical Value ◽  
Complex Geometries ◽  
Bed Shear Stress ◽  
Breadth Ratio ◽  
Computational Fluid Dynamics Cfd ◽  
Simulated Flow

Research was undertaken in order to identify possible methodologies for the prediction of sedimentation in storage chambers based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The Fluent CFD software was used to establish a numerical model of the flow field, on which further analysis was undertaken. Sedimentation was estimated from the simulated flow fields by two different methods. The first approach used the simulation to predict the bed shear stress distribution, with deposition being assumed for areas where the bed shear stress fell below a critical value (τcd). The value of τcd had previously been determined in the laboratory. Efficiency was then calculated as a function of the proportion of the chamber bed for which deposition had been predicted. The second method used the particle tracking facility in Fluent and efficiency was calculated from the proportion of particles that remained within the chamber. The results from the two techniques for efficiency are compared to data collected in a laboratory chamber. Three further simulations were then undertaken in order to investigate the influence of length to breadth ratio on chamber performance. The methodology presented here could be applied to complex geometries and full scale installations.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document