Evaluation of hydrodynamic forces on the impeller of an axial blood pump using computational fluid dynamics

Abstract

Abstract The work is aimed at determining the hydrodynamic forces and moments acting on the impeller of the axial blood pump using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). ANSYS CFX software was used for this purpose. The problem solved as steady state with k-ε turbulence. Blood is considered as a Newtonian fluid with constant dynamic viscosity value of 0.00345 Pas for ranges of angular impeller velocities (6000 – 15000 rpm) and volume flow rates (1 - 6 lmin−1). Radial force and torque diagrams were plotted as the result of the numerical experiment.