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Experimental Study of Micro‐Scale Taylor Vortices Within a Co‐Axial Mixed‐Flow Blood Pump
Author(s) -
Shu Fangjun,
Tian Ruijun,
Vandenberghe Stijn,
Antaki James F.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
artificial organs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.684
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1525-1594
pISSN - 0160-564X
DOI - 10.1111/aor.12663
Subject(s) - vortex , scale (ratio) , flow (mathematics) , blood flow , taylor–couette flow , mechanics , materials science , physics , medicine , cardiology , quantum mechanics , couette flow
Abstract T aylor vortices in a miniature mixed‐flow rotodynamic blood pump were investigated using micro‐scale particle image velocimetry (μ‐ PIV ) and a tracer particle visualization technique. The pump featured a cylindrical rotor (14.9 mm diameter) within a cylindrical bore, having a radial clearance of 500 μm and operated at rotational speeds varying from 1000 to 12 000 rpm. Corresponding T aylor numbers were 700–101 800, respectively. The critical T aylor number was observed to be highly dependent on the ratio of axial to circumferential velocity, increasing from 1200 to 18 000 corresponding to R ossby numbers from 0 to 0.175. This demonstrated a dramatic stabilizing effect of the axial flow. The size of T aylor vortices was also found to be inversely related to R ossby number. It is concluded that Taylor vortices can enhance the mixing in the annular gap and decrease the dwell time of blood cells in the high‐shear‐rate region, which has the potential to decrease hemolysis and platelet activation within the blood pump.