Model of a Peristaltic Pump
As part of the Innosuisse project SCIS Simulation Based Calibration of Infusion Systems the Scientific Computing and Algorithmics Lab developed in collaboration with CODAN ARGUS a model of a peristaltic pump. The aim was to simulate a single pumping cycle with high accuracy. Such a numerical model must account for the following challenging issues
- hyperelastic material model to describe tube (incorporating creep)
- large deformation of the tube (large deformation problem)
- fluid structure interaction (FSI problem)
- contact and loss of contact of the stamps and tube during the pumping cycle (contact problem)
To accomplish this using standard FEM tools is cumbersome or hardly achievable with the desired accuracy. We therefore opted to implement our FSI model using the finite element toolbox NGSolve, which aims to provide the most advanced and most recent numerical methods.
The animation below shows a detailed simulation of the peristaltic pumping process obtained by the FSI model and illustrates how the fluid is transported through the tube due to the wavelike contraction (peristaltic motion). Note: the lift off the stamps from the tube is also clearly visible.
