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Design Optimization Of A Viscous Impeller Pump And Housing For Fontan Circulation Under Device Failure Conditions
Weiguang Yang, PhD1, Aidan Arismendez1, Mark Rodefeld, MD2.
1University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, TX, USA, 2Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
Objectives: Patients with single-ventricle heart defects undergo staged palliation ending in the Fontan procedure, which is associated with elevated systemic venous pressure and reduced cardiac output. A viscous impeller pump (VIP) has been proposed to augment cavopulmonary blood flow. Due to the risk of Fontan circuit obstruction, a fail-safe strategy is paramount in Fontan pump design. This study investigated the sensitivity of VIP design parameters under zero-rotation conditions and optimized passive VIP and blank housing configurations after pump removal. Methods: An idealized VIP model was parameterized using 11 variables. An automated pipeline was developed for simulation-based shape optimization. The elementary effects method was used to evaluate the influence of geometric and flow parameters on passive hemodynamics. A surrogate management framework was employed to minimize thrombosis risk, quantified by low wall shear stress (WSS) area, while constraining device pressure gradient. Results: Cardiac output was the dominant factor affecting hemodynamic metrics. Among the geometric parameters, housing profile, housing gap, and rotor base radius had the strongest linear effects on rotor low-WSS area. VIP and blank housing designs demonstrate a tradeoff between reduced low-WSS area and pressure gradient. In addition, we will present a unified representation of Fontan geometries using an autoencoder. Conclusions: The results demonstrate the feasibility of simulation-based optimization for systematic design exploration under pump failure conditions critical to safe Fontan pump use and device dysfunction management.
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