The study of the arterial system from a mechanical point of view dates back several hundred, if not thousands of years. Elaborate models of the circulation have been developed to describe macro- and micro-scale phenomena related to physiologic function and disease formation. Collaborations between engineers and biologists have led to important information on how these mechanical phenomena directly affect arterial tissue. The understanding of arterial mechanics has also benefited tremendously from advances in computational sciences. It is now possible to model almost any aspect of arterial fluid mechanics and/or solid mechanics with a great deal of sophistication. The challenge to researchers in this field has thus switched from developing modeling capabilities to applying the results to improving health care. Arterial modeling has been employed to improve by-pass graft technology and intravascular devices such as stents. Other areas of cardiovascular disease treatment that will benefit from further modeling-oriented research include aneurysms, arterio-venous malformations, and venous diseases.

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The (VentrAssist)^<TM> Implantable Rotary Blood Pump (IRBP) has been promoted to the stage of clinical pilot trial. The (VentrAssist)^<TM> IRBP is a unique pump in that it has no shaft (see Figure 1). Instead of using thrombogenic pivots or power-drawing magnetic suspension, impeller is supported hydrodynamically when rotating, by lubrication flows in the thin spaces between itself and the pump body. To this end, the flow is very difficult to be measured using usual laboratory equipments. Therefore, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has been applied as one of important tool in the VentraAssist<TM> IRBP design and its validation procedure. Several CFD results such as; pump performance improvement, unsteady hydraulic dynamic analysis, biocapability prediction, validation and verification (V & V), and flow visualization have been performed.

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