Testing for Flow Rates and Pressure Surges During the Motion of Surgical Bone Reamers

摘要

In order to gain experience in fluid-structure interaction in the fluid mechanics laboratory, students in the junior year designed multi-bladed propellers and utilised them to simulate the motion of surgical bone reamers in tubes filled with water. Using a test stand, they had built to test actual reamers from manufacturers, they investigated the effect of the rotation and translation of multi-bladed propellers on the flow rates and the pressures generated during surgical operations. Their results show that the rotation of a propeller reduces the rate of fluid flow in the radial direction, creates a transient surge of pressure, and causes the steady-state pressure in the surrounding fluid to fall below the baseline value, defined here as that which existed before rotation was initiated. These results were consistent with what is reported by orthopaedic surgeons.