Non-dimensional parameters for blood-trauma characterization in high-shear flows

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Fluid Mechanics
• Cardiovascular Devices

Background:

• Cardiovascular devices can cause blood trauma, leading to adverse patient outcomes.
• Current methods for quantifying blood trauma are limited in their ability to correlate data across different conditions.
• Optimizing device design requires robust methods to predict and minimize blood trauma.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop non-dimensional blood trauma parameters for correlating diverse blood trauma data.
• To improve the optimization of cardiovascular devices using non-dimensional analysis.
• To establish a framework for organizing blood trauma datasets for AI-driven design.

Main Methods:

• Formulated non-dimensional descriptors for hemolysis (MIH/LDH), platelet activation, and von Willebrand factor degradation.
• Utilized non-dimensional exposure time, Capillary number (Ca), Taylor number (Ta), and geometry-related Reynolds numbers.
• Evaluated the method using MIH/LDH measurements from a Couette blood-shear apparatus across various flow regimes.

Main Results:

• Developed relations linking non-dimensional hemolysis indicators to exposure time, Ca, Ta, and Reynolds numbers.
• Successfully collapsed dimensionless hemolysis indices (MIH'' and LDH p'') onto consistent trends across a wide range of operating conditions.
• Demonstrated the method's ability to organize large blood trauma datasets, facilitating comparison across different experimental setups.

Conclusions:

• The proposed non-dimensional parameters effectively correlate blood trauma data, enabling consistent analysis.
• This approach supports data-driven design and generative AI workflows for cardiovascular devices.
• The findings aid in making informed design choices to reduce blood trauma and improve device safety.