A numerical analysis on different-generation prototypes of ventricular assist device

Abstract

The ventricular assist device (VAD) assists the patients with heart diseases for limited and prolonged periods. This device synchronizes with normal heart activities to help foster its performance. Consequently, its sensitive design requires high accuracy. The pumps are the essential part of every VAD which should operate in wide ranges of flow and pressure. As there are various types of VAD under different designs, it is neither practical nor plausible to experimentally/clinically investigate their performances. Therefore, in the concurrent study, a numerical study was carried out on four different generation prototypes of VAD pumps for reaching an optimum design. Using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method, the software derived, showed and streamlined the flow field shear stress both inside the VAD and its blades. Furthermore, the vortices and flow rate-pressure curves were observed. The results showed that the curved blade pumps operate better compared to that of the straight blade types, concerning the provision of enough pressure and less damage to the red blood cells. The results have implications not only for comparing different types of VAD designs but also for understanding the resulted shear stresses and pressures as a result of the blade’s structure.