| Significant work has been done in the last 10 years to advance the technology of long-term mechanical circulatory assistance, particularly the left ventricular assist device (LVAD). Traditionally, rotary LVADs have been developed using conventional fluid dynamic design methods and Newtonian scaling laws, since non-Newtonian effects were previously assumed to be of second-order importance.; To evaluate centrifugal pump performance scaling and flow patterns in a non-Newtonian fluid, the Large-Scale Rotor Testbed (LSRT) at The Ohio State University was developed to test two 9X-scale blood pump impellers in a baseline volute housing of the Innovative Ventricular Assist System (IVAS) designed by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Non-Newtonian fluids yielded pump performance deficits of first-order importance, or up to 11% of the Newtonian performance. Thus, the non-Newtonian effects were of the same magnitude as substantial variations in the impeller geometry.; Moreover, the dimensionless pressure- and flow-coefficients showed that the non-Newtonian performance deviated from the similarity laws at critical Reynolds numbers that were 2.4–2.7 times higher than the Newtonian value of 71,000. Above the critical Reynolds number, the non-Newtonian fluids followed a similarity behavior, but it was different from the Newtonian case. The deviation increased with the magnitude of shear-thinning behavior as measured by the Weissenberg number.; Shear-thinning xanthan gum solutions were used as non-Newtonian test fluids in concentrations from 0 to 1,200 ppm. Fluid samples were characterized in a Couette rheometer to determine viscosity behavior, biological degradation, and shear-induced polymer chain breakdown. The solutions proved to be stable and useful for a duration of up to two weeks of routine LSRT testing.; Because the LSRT pump operates in a low-specific speed, low-flow regime, flow visualizations revealed a strong adverse pressure gradient and a prominent inverse Ekman layer in the inlet region. The flow patterns along the upper housing were dependent on the circumferential position, but not the pump flow conditions. The rotor disk surface flow patterns were only dependent on the pump flow conditions. |
