Flow simulation and hemolysis modeling for a blood centrifuge device

•Turbulent blood flow in a centrifuge device is analyzed in detail.•Stochastic particle tracking reveals connectivity between flow recirculation zones.•A hemolysis model is developed, and calibrated using experimental data. A common blood separation technique is to accelerate the sedimentation of blood constituents by centrifugation and then collect these constituents separately. When subjected to conditions of excessive stress, hemolysis can however occur, whereby the membrane of red blood cells ruptures and free hemoglobin is released into the plasma. In this paper, results of numerical simulations of the complex turbulent flow in the collection region of a blood centrifuge device are presented. These simulation results provide a detailed qualitative evaluation of the complex physical phenomena causing hemolysis. For a quantitative analysis, a 5-parameter model is proposed for the production of hemolysis. This model has been calibrated for hemolysis occurring during the collection process using experimentally measured values for different collector geometry, hematocrit level and rotational speed of the blood centrifuge device.