Three-dimensional fluid-structure-interaction simulation of tilting disk mechanical heart valve

Abstract

The current computational effort will focus on the numerical analysis of current tiling disk MHVs. In this work an implicit fluid-structure-interaction (FSI) simulation of the Bjork-Shiley design was carried out using in-house codes implemented in the commercial code software FLUENT (TM). In-house codes in the form of journal files, schemes, and user-defined functions (UDFs) were integrated to automate the inner iterations and enable communication between the fluid and the moving disk at the interfaces. Based on the investigations of the current simulations, a new design aiming at improving the hemodynamic performance is suggested. Hemodynamics of the flow in current tilting-disk valves is compared with the suggested design and it is concluded that the suggested design has a better hemodynamic performance in terms of shear stress values and residence times.