Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A Numerical Analysis of the Blood Flow Around the Bileaflet Mechanical Heart Valves with Different Rotational Implantation Angles

  • Published:
Journal of Hydrodynamics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The effects of implantation angles of Bileaflet Mechanical Heart Valves (BMHVs) on the blood flow and the leaflet motion are investigated in this paper. The physiological blood flow interacting with the moving leaflets of a BMHV is simulated with a strongly coupled implicit Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) method based on the Arbitrary-Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) approach and the dynamic mesh method (remeshing) in Fluent. BMHVs are widely used to be implanted to replace the diseased heart valves, but the patients would suffer from some complications such as hemolysis, platelet activation, tissue overgrowth and device failure. These complications are closely related to both the flow characteristics near the valves and the leaflet dynamics. The current numerical model is validated against a previous experimental study. The numerical results show that as the rotation angle of BMHV is increased the degree of asymmetry of the blood flow and the leaflet motion is increased, which may lead to an unbalanced force acting on the BMHVs. This study shows the applicability of the FSI model for the interaction between the blood flow and the leaflet motion in BMHVs.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. CHANDRAN K. B. Pulsatile flow past a St. Jude medical bileaflet valve: An in vitro study[J]. Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, 1985, 89(5): 743–749.

    Google Scholar 

  2. WOO Y. R., YOGANATHAN A. P. Pulsatile flow velo-city and shear stress measurements on the St. Jude bileaflet valve prosthesis[J]. Scandinavian Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, 1986, 20(1): 15–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. HASENKAM J. M., NYGAARD H. and GIERSIEPEN M. et al. Turbulent stress measurements downstream of six mechanical aortic valves in a pulsatile flow model[J]. Journal of Biomechanics, 1988, 21(8): 631–645.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. NYGAARD H., PAULSEN P. K. and HASENKAN J. M. et al. Turbulent stresses downstream of three mechanical aortic valve prostheses in human beings[J]. Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, 1994, 107: 438–446.

    Google Scholar 

  5. HUNG T. C., HOCHMUTH R. M. and JOIST J. H. et al. Shear induced aggregation analysis of platelets[J]. Transactions-American Society for Artificial Internal Organs, 1976, 22(1): 285–291.

    Google Scholar 

  6. LEVERETT L. B., HELLUMS J. D. and ALFREY C. P. et al. Red blood cell damage by shear stress[J]. Biophysical Journal, 1972, 12(3): 257–273.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. HARTRUMPTF M., ALBES J. M. and KREMPL T. et al. The hemodynamic performance of standard bileaflet valves is impaired by a tilted implantation position[J]. European Journal of Cardio-thoracic Surgery, 2003, 23(3): 283–291.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. BLUESTEIN D., LI Y. M. and KRUKENKAMP I. B. Free emboli formation in the wake of bi-leaflet mechanical heart valves and the effects of implantation techniques[J]. Journal of Biomechanics, 2002, 35(12): 1533–1540.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. AEMU Y., BLUESTEIN D. Flowinduced platelet acti-vation and damage accumulation in a mechanical heart valve: Numerical studies[J]. Artificial Organs, 2007, 31(9): 677–688.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. NOBILI M., MORBIDUCCI U. and PONZINI R. et al. Numerical simulation of the dynamics of a bileaflet prosthetic heart valve using a fluid-structure interaction approach[J]. Journal of Biomechanics, 2008, 41(11): 2539–2550.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. CHOI C. R., KIM C. N. and CHOI M. J. Characteristics of transient blood flow in MHVs with different maximum opening angles using fluid-structure interaction method[J]. Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2001, 18(6): 809–815.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. CHOI C. R., KIM C. N. Analysis of blood flow interacted with leaflets in MHV in view of fluid-structure interaction[J]. KSME International Journal, 2001, 15(5): 613–622.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. BANG J. S., CHOI C. R. and KIM C. N. A numerical analysis on the curved bileaflet mechanical heart valve (MHV): Leaflet motion and blood flow in an elastic blood vessel[J]. Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology, 2005, 19(9): 1761–1772.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School, Kyung Hee University, Yongin, Korea

    Taehyup Hong

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Kyung Hee University, Yongin, Korea

    Chang Nyung Kim

Authors
  1. Taehyup Hong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Chang Nyung Kim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chang Nyung Kim.

Additional information

Biography: HONG Taehyup (1981-), Male, Bachelor

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hong, T., Kim, C.N. A Numerical Analysis of the Blood Flow Around the Bileaflet Mechanical Heart Valves with Different Rotational Implantation Angles. J Hydrodyn 23, 607–614 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1016/S1001-6058(10)60156-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S1001-6058(10)60156-4

Key words

Search

Navigation