A time-dependent numerical analysis of flow in a mechanical heart valve: Comparison with experimental results

Abstract

There is a great need to fabricate heart valves that have similar haemodynamic properties with the natural ones. Towards this goal, we examine the dynamics of fluid flow in a mechanical heart valve with one leaflet. The fluid is incompressible and Newtonian and the leaflet is a neo-Hookean material. The Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian method is used to model the fluid-leaflet interaction, and the system of equations is solved using the Finite Element method. The pseudo solid approach along with a set of algebraic equations are used to deform the mesh, while care is taken to avoid remeshing of the domain, at the moment of valve closure. The computational results are compared against the experimental results, and we find an excellent agreement for the time period of valve closure, the time the valve is fully opened, and the value of the maximum valve opening angle. This study indicates that the present model is capable of describing the valve dynamics in physiological geometries.

Keywords:

• fluid-structure interaction
• CFD
• ALE
• pseudo-solid
• blood flow
• mechanical heart valve

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. J.M.A. Stijnen at Eindhoven University of Technology for providing the experimental results. Also, the authors thank Dr. Panagiotis Neofytou at the National Center for Scientific Research “Demokritos”.