  This paper reports on the derivation and implementation of a shape
optimization procedure for the minimization of hemolysis induction in
biomedical devices. Hemolysis is a blood damaging phenomenon that may occur in
mechanical blood-processing applications where large velocity gradients are
found. An increased level of damaged blood can lead to deterioration of the
immune system and quality of life. It is, thus, important to minimize
flow-induced hemolysis by improving the design of next-generation biomedical
machinery. Emphasis is given to the formulation of a continuous adjoint
complement to a power-law hemolysis prediction model dedicated to efficiently
identifying the shape sensitivity to hemolysis. The computational approach is
verified against the analytical solutions of a benchmark problem and computed
sensitivity derivatives are validated by a finite differences study on a
generic 2D stenosed geometry. The application included addresses a 3D ducted
geometry which features typical characteristics of biomedical devices. An
optimized shape, leading to a potential improvement in hemolysis induction up
to 22%, is identified. It is shown, that the improvement persists for
different, literature-reported hemolysis-evaluation parameters.
