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Pressure distribution over the leaflets and effect of bending stiffness on fluid–structure interaction of the aortic valve

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2019

Ye Chen  and
Haoxiang Luo Open the ORCID record for Haoxiang Luo [Opens in a new window]
Ye Chen
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, 2301 Vanderbilt Place, Nashville, TN 37235-1592, USA
Haoxiang Luo*
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, 2301 Vanderbilt Place, Nashville, TN 37235-1592, USA
*
†Email address for correspondence: haoxiang.luo@vanderbilt.edu
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Abstract

We describe a three-dimensional (3-D) fluid–structure interaction (FSI) simulation study of the aortic valve, where the flow is driven by a specified transient pressure drop along the aorta tube. The thickness of the leaflets is varied from 0.05 mm to 0.8 mm so that the normalized bending rigidity by the systolic pressure gradient covers a wide range from $1.5\times 10^{-4}$ to 0.6. The non-uniform pressure distribution over the leaflets and the transient valve force are calculated, including the ‘water hammer’ effect during rapid closure. With low bending rigidity, the valve functions normally and produces physiological characteristics of healthy valves. However, exceedingly low rigidity leads to flapping motion of the leaflets and, in some cases (e.g. the normalized bending rigidity around 0.001), may reduce the performance index. As the leaflets become much stiffer, the valve is more difficult to open and slower to close, which leads to higher resistance and a reduced flow rate. Therefore, our results suggest that there is an optimal range of bending rigidity for the valve, roughly between 0.003 and 0.04 in normalized term. We further develop a one-dimensional unsteady flow model based on the momentum and mass conservation equations to replace the 3-D flow in the FSI simulation. The new flow model incorporates pressure loss across the valve as well as the leaflet motion. Comparison with the 3-D results shows that the reduced flow model is able to produce a reasonable 3-D deformation sequence of the leaflets, opening area and flow rate, especially in the cases of low bending rigidity.

JFM classification

Biological Fluid Dynamics: Biomedical flows Biological Fluid Dynamics: Blood flow
Type
JFM Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 883 , 25 January 2020 , A52
Copyright
© 2019 Cambridge University Press

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Supplementary material: Image

Chen et al. supplementary movie 1

Transient valve deformation and corresponding force on the valve for h=0.1 mm.
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Supplementary material: Image

Chen et al. supplementary movie 2

Transient valve deformation and corresponding force on the valve for h=0.3 mm.

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Image 5.9 MB
Supplementary material: Image

Chen et al. supplementary movie 3

Valve deformation and corresponding vortex structures in the flow during systole for h=0.3 mm

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Supplementary material: File

Chen et al. supplementary material

Deformation sequences for the three thin-leaflet cases with h=0.05, 0.08, and 0.1 mm from 3-D FSI simulations.

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Chen et al. supplementary material

Comparison of the GOA for the case of h=0.3 mm where both the domain length and pressure loading are doubled. Image credit for the graphical abstract: Ye Chen, Haoxiang Luo, and Match Health (https://www.matchhealth.com)
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