On the dynamic suction pumping of blood cells in tubular hearts

Abstract

Around the third week after gestation in embryonic development, the human heart consists only of a valvless tube, unlike a fully developed adult heart, which is multi-chambered. At this stage in development, the heart valves have not formed and so net flow of blood through the heart must be driven by a different mechanism. It is hypothesized that there are two possible mechanisms that drive blood flow at this stage - Liebau pumping (dynamic suction pumping or valveless pumping) and peristaltic pumping. We implement the immersed boundary method with adaptive mesh refinement (IBAMR) to numerically study the effect of hematocrit on the circulation around a valveless. Both peristalsis and dynamic suction pumping are considered. In the case of dynamic suction pumping, the heart and circulatory system is simplified as a flexible tube attached to a relatively rigid racetrack. For some Womersley number (Wo) regimes, there is significant net flow around the racetrack. We find that the addition of flexible blood cells does not significantly affect flow rates within the tube for Wo ≤ 10. On the other hand, peristalsis consistently drives blood around the racetrack for all Wo and for all hematocrit considered.