CFD Multiphase Modeling of Blood Cells Segregation in Flow through Microtubes

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases, commonly referred as Heart Diseases, involve heart and blood vessels associated to the cardiovascular system. So called blood wetted medical devices are widely used in treatment of heart diseases as they help to provide better blood flow to patients. However, when blood is flowing through medical devices, it can be damaged due to lack of compatibility with surrounding non-biological walls of pipes, connectors and containers, thermal and osmotic effects, or most prominently due to excessive shear stresses on blood cells by medical devices. Though laboratory tests are vital for design improvements, they have proven to be costly, time intensive and ethically controversial. On the other hand, Computational Fluid Dynamics is a promising and inexpensive tool for simulating blood flow. The aim of this project is to improve and validate existing numerical model of blood cells segregation in flow through microtube. An improved numerical model of blood cells segregation is of interest for further evaluation of blood damage for design purposes of medical devices. The proposed model is based on Granular Kinetic Theory and represents a continuation of previous work by Mendygarin et al. [4] by sensitive analysis of red blood cells Sauter diameter according to local flow conditions.