Turbulence Model Influence on Flow in the FDA Benchmark Model

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) can be used to influence decisions early in the design process. In order to assess the state-of-the-art of CFD and its predictive capability for medical devices, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) developed two benchmark models for validation. Previous work explored hybrid and multi-block structured meshing strategies and their impact on steady-state solution accuracy for one of the benchmark cases, a centrifugal blood pump. In this case study, the focus was to extend the previous study by examining the influence of the turbulence model. The k-ω SST, standard k-ε and realizable k-ε turbulence models were used. Results from all six pump test conditions were compared for each turbulence model.