Computational fluid mechanical analysis of a chest drain device with circular side holes

To overcome the complications due to the use of noncompliant large diameter conventional chest drain devices, a flexible small diameter chest drain device was designed and simulated based on computational fluid dynamic techniques. Results showed that the pressure drop and velocity increase of the most distal drainage holes, which are located near the suction end, are dominant over other drainage holes. When all holes are opened the chest drain showed 6% increase in flow rate.