Journal of Xi'an Jiaotong University

Numerical Investigation on Flow Field and Biocompatibility of an Axial Blood Pump
Zhu Xianran£¬Zhang Mingyuan£¬Liu Haonan£¬Zhang Genguang
£¨State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering£¬Xi'an¡¡Jiaotong¡¡University£¬Xi'an ¡¡710049£¬China£©

Abstract£ºA new axial blood pump with conical magnetic bearings was designed£¬which can avoid thrombus caused by contact between the rotating and stationary parts and whose compact structure makes it easier to realize the magnetic suspension£®The flow field in the axial blood pump was investigated numerically£¬and the headª²flow characteristics and the distributions of pressure and wall shear stress were analyzed£® Calculation shows that there would be vortices shedding at the exit tube of the pump£¬ which could be eliminated by adding guide vane at very downstream of the propeller£®It is found that a steady backwards washout flow forms and no stagnation region is detected in the narrow gap between the rotor and the pump shell£¬and consequently the probability of thrombus formation decreases considerably
in the gap£®A numerical method to estimate hemolysis level in blood pump was presented and hemolysis indices were calculated£®The results indicate that Reynolds shear stress is the major factor causing hemolysis in the blood pump£®
Keywords£ºaxial blood pump£»numerical simulation£»magnetic bearing£»hemolysis index