Pulsatile flow past a cylinder: an experimental model of flow in an artificial lung.
The focus of this study is an experimental apparatus that serves as a model for studying blood flow in a total artificial lung (TAL), a prototype device intended to serve as a bridge to lung transplantation or that supports pulmonary function during the treatment of severe respiratory failure. The TAL consists of hollow cylindrical fibers that oxygen-rich air flows through and oxygen-poor blood flows around. Because gas diffusivity in the TAL is very small, a convection mechanism dominates the gas transport, which is why we focus on the velocity around the fibers (modeled as a 0.05-cm-in-diameter and 5-cm-long cylinder). We designed a low-speed water tunnel to study the flow mechanism around the cylinder, across which the flow is generated by a linear actuator that allows different flow patterns to mimic the flow in a TAL. We tested the flow in the test section by numerical simulation and by the particle image velocimetry method to study the flow profile. The results show a uniform flow near the centerline of the water tunnel where the cylinder is placed. This decreases the effects of free-stream turbulence in the shear layers and reduces the uncertainty in determining the flow patterns around the cylinder. Knowledge gained from the flow around one cylinder (fiber) is beneficial for understanding vortex formation around multiple cylinders. We present a summary of vortex formation behind a cylinder for Reynolds numbers (Re) of 1, 3, and 5 and Stokes numbers (Ns) of 0.18 to 0.37; results show that higher Re and Ns favor vortex formation. These findings regarding the parameter range for vortex formation may provide principles for designing artificial lungs to enhance convective mixing. We anticipate that the pulsatile flow circuit presented here can be used to mimic the flow not only in TALs but in other physiological systems.
Lin
Yu-chun
YC
Biomedical Engineering Department, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA.
Brant
David O
DO
Bartlett
Robert H
RH
Hirschl
Ronald B
RB
Bull
Joseph L
JL
D000818:Animals; D001187:Artificial Organs; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D007260:Infusion Pumps; D008168:Lung / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D011652:Pulmonary Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D011673:Pulsatile Flow / Q000502:physiology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014867:Water
D014867:Water