Advanced Design Optimization

One of the most important tasks in the development of ventricular assist devices (VADs)  and other medical devices delivering blood is to minimize the shear-induced blood trauma (hemolysis) to guarantee a good biocompatibility. Various numerical blood damage models integrated into our CFD/FEA-based design optimization tool allow us to quickly and accurately evaluate the hemolysis. This will greatly shorten the design cycle for the development of a biocompatible VAD or medical device. We can use either Lagrangian particle tracking technology or Eulerian methods to evaluate the blood damage depending on the conditions. Our method is further strengthened by the detailed breakdown analysis of regional contributions to the overall blood damage. This regional analysis is very useful by providing insights into which components contribute most to the hemolysis level and therefore invite focused optimization.