Flow through a prosthetic mechanical aortic valve: Numerical model and experimental study

Abstract

This research presents a numerical model dedicated for virtual patient diagnostics in the field of synthetic valve implantation. The model operates based on computational fluid dynamics solver with implemented rigid body motion solver. Characteristic indicators related to the prosthetic valve were determined to assess the correctness of cardiac system operation after implantation. A novel approach for dynamic time discretization was developed for reliable and time-efficient calculation. The solver efficiency and computational savings due to application of the developed time-discretization scheme is discussed. Numerical results were validated using experimental data acquired from a test rig, including mass flow meter, pressure transducers, and valve holder designed for this purpose. Multivariant analysis of the model constant was performed towards different levels of the valve resistance to motion. The in-house algorithm was prepared to automatically determine the prosthetic valve position from fast camera images.