S​IG37 Workshop

6th International Workshop on
Flow-Induced Blood Damage in Rotating Systems (BDW2026)

^{3rd - 4th September 2026
Rostock Warnemunde, Germany}

Organisers: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Frank-Hendrik Wurm
Institute of Turbomachinery, University of Rostock, Germany

A​bstract submission: 30th June 2026

The main topic of research at the Institute of Turbomachinery (ITU) at the University of Rostock is flow-induced blood damage in rotating systems. To promote international research in this area, we are inviting the 'Biomedical Fluid Mechanics' community to a workshop to discuss current research on flow-induced blood damage, with a particular focus on rotating systems. Theoretical approaches to blood damage mechanisms and their application to rotating blood pumps and ECMO will be discussed. The workshop will focus on the numerical modelling of blood flow within these systems, as well as the experimental investigation of blood damage. The workshop will be held in Rostock, Germany.

Flow induced blood damage is one of the main causes of post-surgical complications in patients with Ventricular Assist Devices and other types of blood contacting medical devices. Fluid dynamics is the basis of this problem; solving it requires an understanding of blood flow, including blood rheology, secondary flows, multiphase flows and transition to turbulence, as well the interaction between the flow and the biological processes resulting in damage. Solving this problem is of the utmost importance to patient safety and wellbeing, and so is important to academic and clinical researchers, and the medical technology industry.

Research on flow-induced blood damage is the main topic in our Cardiovascular Engineering Research Group, a research group within the both the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Centre for Bioengineering and Biomedical Technologies at University of Bath. In order to promote international research in this area, we invite the “Biomedical Fluid Mechanics” community to a workshop, to discuss current research on flow-induced blood damage with special focus on rotating systems. We will discuss theoretical approaches to blood damage mechanisms and their application to rotating blood pumps and ECMO. The workshop will focus on numerical modelling of blood flow in the systems and experimental investigation of blood damage.