The reduction of excessive, nonphysiologic shear stresses leading to blood trauma can be the key to overcome many of the associated complications in blood recirculating devices. In that regard, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) are gaining in importance for the hydraulic and hemocompatibility assessment. Still, direct hemolysis assessments with CFD remain inaccurate and limited to qualitative comparisons rather than quantitative predictions. An underestimated quantity for improved blood damage prediction accuracy is the influence of near-wall mesh resolution on shear stress quantification in regions of complex flows. This study investigated the necessary mesh refinement to quantify shear stress for two selected, meshing sensitive hotspots within a rotary centrifugal blood pump (the blade leading edge and tip clearance gap). The shear stress in these regions is elevated due to presence of stagnation points and the flow around a sharp edge. The nondimensional mesh characteristic number y+, which is known in the context of turbulence modeling, underestimated the maximum wall shear stress by 60% on average with the recommended value of 1, but was found to be exact below 0.1. To evaluate the meshing related error on the numerical hemolysis prediction, three-dimensional simulations of a generic centrifugal pump were performed with mesh sizes from 3 × 106 to 30 × 106 elements. The respective hemolysis was calculated using an Eulerian scalar transport model. Mesh insensitivity was found below a maximum y+ of 0.2 necessitating 18 × 106 mesh elements. A meshing related error of up to 25% was found for the coarser meshes. Further investigations need to address: (1) the transferability to other geometries and (2) potential adaptions on blood damage estimation models to allow better quantitative predictions.
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February 2019
Research-Article
Mesh Sensitivity Analysis for Quantitative Shear Stress Assessment in Blood Pumps Using Computational Fluid Dynamics
Sascha Gross-Hardt,
Sascha Gross-Hardt
Department of Cardiovascular Engineering,
Institute of Applied Medical Engineering,
Helmholtz Institute,
RWTH Aachen University,
Pauwelsstrasse 20,
Aachen 52074, Germany;
Institute of Applied Medical Engineering,
Helmholtz Institute,
RWTH Aachen University,
Pauwelsstrasse 20,
Aachen 52074, Germany;
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Fiete Boehning,
Fiete Boehning
Department of Cardiovascular Engineering,
Institute of Applied Medical Engineering,
Helmholtz Institute,
RWTH Aachen University,
Pauwelsstrasse 20,
Aachen 52074, Germany;
Institute of Applied Medical Engineering,
Helmholtz Institute,
RWTH Aachen University,
Pauwelsstrasse 20,
Aachen 52074, Germany;
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Ulrich Steinseifer,
Ulrich Steinseifer
Department of Cardiovascular Engineering,
Institute of Applied Medical Engineering,
Helmholtz Institute,
RWTH Aachen University,
Pauwelsstrasse 20,
Aachen 52074, Germany;
Institute of Applied Medical Engineering,
Helmholtz Institute,
RWTH Aachen University,
Pauwelsstrasse 20,
Aachen 52074, Germany;
Department of Mechanical and
Aerospace Engineering,
Monash Institute of Medical Engineering,
Monash University,
Melbourne 3800, Australia
e-mail: steinseifer@ame.rwth-aachen.de
Aerospace Engineering,
Monash Institute of Medical Engineering,
Monash University,
Melbourne 3800, Australia
e-mail: steinseifer@ame.rwth-aachen.de
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Thomas Schmitz-Rode,
Thomas Schmitz-Rode
Department of Cardiovascular Engineering,
Institute of Applied Medical Engineering,
Helmholtz Institute,
RWTH Aachen University,
Pauwelsstrasse 20,
Aachen 52074, Germany
e-mail: smiro@ame.rwth-aachen.de
Institute of Applied Medical Engineering,
Helmholtz Institute,
RWTH Aachen University,
Pauwelsstrasse 20,
Aachen 52074, Germany
e-mail: smiro@ame.rwth-aachen.de
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Tim A. S. Kaufmann
Tim A. S. Kaufmann
Department of Cardiovascular Engineering,
Institute of Applied Medical Engineering,
Helmholtz Institute,
RWTH Aachen University,
Pauwelsstrasse 20,
Aachen 52074, Germany;
Institute of Applied Medical Engineering,
Helmholtz Institute,
RWTH Aachen University,
Pauwelsstrasse 20,
Aachen 52074, Germany;
Search for other works by this author on:
Sascha Gross-Hardt
Department of Cardiovascular Engineering,
Institute of Applied Medical Engineering,
Helmholtz Institute,
RWTH Aachen University,
Pauwelsstrasse 20,
Aachen 52074, Germany;
Institute of Applied Medical Engineering,
Helmholtz Institute,
RWTH Aachen University,
Pauwelsstrasse 20,
Aachen 52074, Germany;
Fiete Boehning
Department of Cardiovascular Engineering,
Institute of Applied Medical Engineering,
Helmholtz Institute,
RWTH Aachen University,
Pauwelsstrasse 20,
Aachen 52074, Germany;
Institute of Applied Medical Engineering,
Helmholtz Institute,
RWTH Aachen University,
Pauwelsstrasse 20,
Aachen 52074, Germany;
Ulrich Steinseifer
Department of Cardiovascular Engineering,
Institute of Applied Medical Engineering,
Helmholtz Institute,
RWTH Aachen University,
Pauwelsstrasse 20,
Aachen 52074, Germany;
Institute of Applied Medical Engineering,
Helmholtz Institute,
RWTH Aachen University,
Pauwelsstrasse 20,
Aachen 52074, Germany;
Department of Mechanical and
Aerospace Engineering,
Monash Institute of Medical Engineering,
Monash University,
Melbourne 3800, Australia
e-mail: steinseifer@ame.rwth-aachen.de
Aerospace Engineering,
Monash Institute of Medical Engineering,
Monash University,
Melbourne 3800, Australia
e-mail: steinseifer@ame.rwth-aachen.de
Thomas Schmitz-Rode
Department of Cardiovascular Engineering,
Institute of Applied Medical Engineering,
Helmholtz Institute,
RWTH Aachen University,
Pauwelsstrasse 20,
Aachen 52074, Germany
e-mail: smiro@ame.rwth-aachen.de
Institute of Applied Medical Engineering,
Helmholtz Institute,
RWTH Aachen University,
Pauwelsstrasse 20,
Aachen 52074, Germany
e-mail: smiro@ame.rwth-aachen.de
Tim A. S. Kaufmann
Department of Cardiovascular Engineering,
Institute of Applied Medical Engineering,
Helmholtz Institute,
RWTH Aachen University,
Pauwelsstrasse 20,
Aachen 52074, Germany;
Institute of Applied Medical Engineering,
Helmholtz Institute,
RWTH Aachen University,
Pauwelsstrasse 20,
Aachen 52074, Germany;
Manuscript received May 18, 2018; final manuscript received November 8, 2018; published online December 12, 2018. Assoc. Editor: Keefe B. Manning.
J Biomech Eng. Feb 2019, 141(2): 021012 (8 pages)
Published Online: December 12, 2018
Article history
Received:
May 18, 2018
Revised:
November 8, 2018
Citation
Gross-Hardt, S., Boehning, F., Steinseifer, U., Schmitz-Rode, T., and Kaufmann, T. A. S. (December 12, 2018). "Mesh Sensitivity Analysis for Quantitative Shear Stress Assessment in Blood Pumps Using Computational Fluid Dynamics." ASME. J Biomech Eng. February 2019; 141(2): 021012. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4042043
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