Suitability of Different Blood-Analogous Fluids in Determining the Pump Characteristics of a Ventricular Assist Device

Ventricular assist devices (VADs) are implantable turbomachines that save and improve the lives of patients with severe heart failure. In the preclinical evaluation, a VAD design must be experimentally or numerically tested regarding its pump characteristics, primarily for its pressure buildup (pressure head $H$) since it must provide the cardiovascular system with a sufficient blood flow rate $Q$. Those pump characteristics are determined on a test bench. Here, a glycerol-water mixture is almost exclusively used as blood-analogous fluid, which should reflect the properties (density, viscosity) of blood as close as possible. However, glycerol water has some disadvantages, such as a higher density compared to real blood and a relatively high cost. Therefore, the study aimed to analyze six different blood analogous fluids to select the most suitable one in consideration of fluid handling, costs, and, most importantly, fluid properties (material and rheological). First, all fluids were mixed to achieve reference values of blood density and viscosity from the literature. Afterwards, the pump characteristics (pressure heads and efficiencies via the VAD) were experimentally and numerically determined and compared among each other and with literature values. Of all six investigated fluids, only the aqueous–polyethylene glycol 200 (PEG 200) solution matches exactly the desired blood properties, and the pump characteristics of this fluid are in the expected range for the analyzed operation point of the VAD. Another advantage is that the cost of the mixture is 35% lower compared to glycerol water. Additionally, we demonstrate that non-Newtonian flow behavior has little effect on the pump characteristics in our VAD.