Computational Fluid-Structure Interaction Study of a new Wave Membrane Blood Pump

40/2021

Computational Fluid-Structure Interaction Study of a new Wave Membrane Blood Pump

Tuesday 15th June 2021

Martinolli, M.; Cornat, F.; Vergara, C.

Purpose: Wave Membrane Blood Pumps (WMBP) are novel pump designs in which blood is propelled by means of wave propagation by an undulating membrane. In this paper, we computationally studied the performance of a new WMBP design (J-shaped) for different working conditions, in view of potential applications in human patients. Methods: Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) simulations were conducted in 3D pump geometries and numerically discretized by means of the Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM). A contact model was introduced to capture membrane-wall collisions in the pump head. Mean flow rate and membrane envelope were determined to evaluate hydraulic performance. A preliminary hemocompatibility analysis was performed via calculation of fluid shear stress. Results: Numerical results, validated against in-vitro experimental data, showed that the hydraulic output increases when either the frequency or the amplitude of membrane oscillations were higher, with limited increase in the fluid stresses, suggesting good hemocompatility properties. Also, we showed better performance in terms of hydraulic power with respect to a previous design of the pump. We finally studied an operating point which achieves physiologic flow rate target at diastolic head pressure of $80$ mmHg. Conclusions: A new design of WMBP was computationally studied. The proposed FSI model with contact was employed to predict the new pump hydraulic performance and it could help to properly select an operating point for the upcoming first-in-human trials.