Numerical comparison of the closing dynamics of a new trileaflet and a bileaflet mechanical aortic heart valve.
The closing velocity of the leaflets of mechanical heart valves is excessively rapid and can cause the cavitation phenomenon. Cavitation bubbles collapse and produce high pressure which then damages red blood cells and platelets. The closure mechanism of the trileaflet valve uses the vortices in the aortic sinus to help close the leaflets, which differs from that of the monoleaflet or bileaflet mechanical heart valves which mainly depends on the reverse flow. We used the commercial software program Fluent to run numerical simulations of the St. Jude Medical bileaflet valve and a new trileaflet mechanical heart valve. The results of these numerical simulations were validated with flow field experiments. The closing velocity of the trileaflet valve was clearly slower than that of the St. Jude Medical bileaflet valve, which would effectively reduce the occurrence of cavitation. The findings of this study are expected to advance the development of the trileaflet valve.
Department of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, Tamkang University, 151 Ying-Chuan Road, Tamsui, New Taipei, 251, Taiwan. 894330017@s94.tku.edu.tw
Chi-Pei
CP
Li
Po-Chien
PC
Lu
D001021:Aortic Valve / Q000601:surgery*; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006350:Heart Valve Prosthesis; D057446:Hydrodynamics; D011474:Prosthesis Design