Influence of valve size, orientation and downstream geometry of an aortic BMHV on leaflet motion and clinically used valve performance parameters.

The aim of this study was to reconcile some of our own previous work and the work of others to generate a physiologically realistic numerical simulation environment that allows to virtually assess the performance of BMHVs. The model incorporates: (i) a left ventricular deformable model to generate a physiological inflow to the aortic valve; (ii) a patient-specific aortic geometry (root, arch and descending aorta); (iii) physiological pressure and flow boundary conditions. We particularly studied the influence of downstream geometry, valve size and orientation on leaflet kinematics and functional indices used in clinical routine.

Validation of a numerical FSI simulation of an aortic BMHV by in vitro PIV experiments.

In this paper, a validation of a recently developed fluid-structure interaction (FSI) coupling algorithm to simulate numerically the dynamics of an aortic bileaflet mechanical heart valve (BMHV) is performed. This validation is done by comparing the numerical simulation results with in vitro experiments. For the in vitro experiments, the leaflet kinematics and flow fields are obtained via the particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique.

The upstream boundary condition influences the leaflet opening dynamics in the numerical FSI simulation of an aortic BMHV.

In this paper, the influence of the upstream boundary condition in the numerical simulation of an aortic bileaflet mechanical heart valve (BMHV) is studied. Three three-dimensional cases with different upstream boundary conditions are compared. The first case consists of a rigid straight tube with a velocity profile at its inlet.

FSI simulation of asymmetric mitral valve dynamics during diastolic filling.

In this article, we present a fluid-structure interaction algorithm accounting for the mutual interaction between two rigid bodies. The algorithm was used to perform a numerical simulation of mitral valve (MV) dynamics during diastolic filling. In numerical simulations of intraventricular flow and MV motion, the asymmetry of the leaflets is often neglected.