CFD study on aortic cannula (flow characteristics)

Abstract

During cardio-pulmonary bypass (CPB) machine operation, aortic cannula is placed in the right side of the heart. One of the complications in current aortic cannula usage is the sandblasting effect of cannula jet. This study aims to reduce the exit force and jet velocity of blood flow, thereby reducing the sandblasting effect. Five new aortic cannula designs are investigated using numerical techniques. All cannula have straight and grooves geometries respectively which produce different swirl flow characteristics. Pressure drop, outflow velocity, helical density and wall shear stresses are the components analysed for all case studies. It is shown that the spiral flows induced by straight cannula body employs the lowest pressure drop, lowest outflow velocity, farthest distance of helical flow, and lowest wall shear stress distribution. It is also shown that the flow from cannula with two revolutions and four groove displays the highest pressure drop, low outflow velocity, shortest distance of helical flow and the highest wall shear stress distributions.