Zhu Chenying, Ye Ping, Chang Zhaohua
School of Health Science and Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, China.
Front Physiol. 2025 Jun 27;16:1595588. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2025.1595588. eCollection 2025.
Blood pumps as mechanical circulatory support (MCS) devices are widely used for patients with ventricular heart failure, and improving blood compatibility remains a key focus for researchers.
The effects of secondary flow path clearance on the performance and hemocompatibility of a centrifugal blood pump are investigated in this study. A blood pump of the specific design was developed for modeling and computer simulation, and 25 models were generated by varying its internal and outer clearance between 600 and 1,000 μm. This study systematically investigates the hydrodynamic and hemodynamic performance of designed blood pumps through integrated computational fluid dynamics simulations and hydraulic experiments.
Key findings reveal a strong agreement between numerical predictions and experimental data, showing a maximum pressure deviation of 9% for the baseline pump configuration. Furthermore, the effect of the change in clearance on the head and efficiency is less than ±3%. The change in the secondary flow path significantly impacts hemolysis performance.
An optimal clearance combination exists in the designed model, and for a specific flow field structure, asymmetric clearance may be an effective means to balance leakage control and turbulence suppression. Although the findings are specific to the pumps examined in this study, they provide valuable insights into the optimal design of blood pumps.
作为机械循环支持（MCS）设备的血泵被广泛应用于心室心力衰竭患者，提高血液相容性仍然是研究人员的关键关注点。
本研究探讨了二次流道间隙对离心血泵性能和血液相容性的影响。开发了一种特定设计的血泵用于建模和计算机模拟，并通过将其内部和外部间隙在600至1000μm之间变化生成了25个模型。本研究通过综合计算流体动力学模拟和水力实验系统地研究了设计血泵的流体动力学和血液动力学性能。
主要发现表明数值预测与实验数据高度吻合，基线泵配置的最大压力偏差为9%。此外，间隙变化对扬程和效率的影响小于±3%。二次流道的变化对溶血性能有显著影响。
在设计模型中存在最佳间隙组合，对于特定的流场结构，非对称间隙可能是平衡泄漏控制和湍流抑制的有效手段。尽管这些发现特定于本研究中所研究的泵，但它们为血泵的优化设计提供了有价值的见解。
