Technical Papers and Presentations

Peristaltic pumps are used during pharmaceutical manufacturing processes, for filling, filtration and mixing operations. Goal of this work was to develop a computational model of a peristaltic pump used for filling operations, to predict shear stresses and mass flow rates. For this purpose, COMSOL Multiphysics® was used to create a multi-physics model of a peristaltic pump, an elastomeric tube and a viscous Newtonian fluid.

The tube deformation is modeled using the Nonlinear Structural Materials Module, assuming Hyperelastic properties. The fluid is modeled using the CFD module, assuming Laminar flow. In summary, it is a Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) problem that can be solved either with one-way coupling (first solid, then fluid part) or two-way coupling (full FSI). The two approaches are compared in terms of differences in predicted values and computational cost.

Simulations are all performed on Rescale Cloud Computing platform using COMSOL Server™. Prerequisite for that is the creation of an application of the model. The model is created in a local workstation with a CPU license and converted into an app using the Application Builder tool. The app is then uploaded on Rescale platform to perform the simulation. After successful completion of simulation, the app is saved and downloaded locally for further analysis and post-processing.