Effects of muscle pump on rotary blood pumps in dynamic exercise: a computer simulation study

Computer simulation is an important tool to study the interaction between rotary blood pumps (RBPs) and human circulatory system. This interaction is critical for the development of reliable physiological control systems of long-term RBPs. This paper presents a numerical model of the human circulatory system, which innovatively takes the muscle pump into account in dynamic exercise. Simulation results demonstrate that the inclusion of muscle pump will change the response of hemodynamic variables and RBP parameters. These findings also show the necessity to verify the performance of RBPs and their physiological control systems in dynamic exercise with the muscle pump taken into account. By using Matlab Simulink software to simulate real-time circulatory properties, this study provides the bench-top test environment for long-term RBPs and their physiological controller.