Investigating the Dialysis Treatment Using Hollow Fiber Membrane: A New Approach by CFD

Due to the increase in the number of people affected by chronic renal failure, the demand for hemodialysis treatment has increased considerably over the years. In this sense, theoretical and experimental studies to improve the equipment (hemodialyzer) are extremely important, due to their potential impact on the patient’s life quality undergoing treatment. To contribute to this research line, this work aims to study the fluid behavior inside a hollow fiber dialyzer using computational fluid dynamics. In that new approach, the blood is considered as multiphase fluid and the membrane as an extra flow resistance in the porous region (momentum sink). The numerical study of the hemodialysis process was based on the development of a mathematical model that allowed analyzing the performance of the system using Ansys(®) Fluent software. The predicted results were compared with results reported in the literature and a good concordance was obtained. The simulation results showed that the proposed model can predict the fluid behavior inside the hollow fiber membrane adequately. In addition, it was found that the clearance decreases with increasing radial viscous resistance, with greater permeations in the vicinity of the lumen inlet region, as well as the emergence of the retrofiltration phenomenon, characteristic of this type of process. Herein, velocity, pressure, and volumetric fraction fields are presented and analyzed.