Numerical study on hemolysis induced by speed-changing heart pump

Today, heart disease is the first cause of death in the world. The heart pump is a mechanical device used to help heart patients. The blood of people who use the heart pump, due to being in contact with the mechanical device, suffers from damage such as thrombosis and hemolysis. When the heart pump starts from a resting state, its angular velocity increases in a short period of time, and then operates at a constant rate .Transient blood flow analysis is very valuable when the pump speed is changing. In this paper, the flow of fluid inside the heart pump and the amount of damage to the red blood cells were analyzed numerically. In this analysis, the effect of shear stress caused by the blades of the pump into the red blood cells was also investigated. Total pressure and flow rate at the inlet and outlet of the pump as well as relative velocity changes of the pump inside the pump and its evolution were discussed. Finally, the hemolysis created during the simulation period was calculated. In the study, it was found that the pump head and flow rate start to increase when it starts working, and also hemolysis analysis showed that the heart pump during starting period causes serious damage to the red blood cells and the possibility of rupturing the red blood cells in this short period of time is high.