2001 Volume 15 Issue 4 Pages 369-372
A computational fluid dynamics analysis of the On-X® bi-leaflet heart valve has been conducted. Unsteady blood flow in the hinge area was investigated using STORM/CFD2000. The Navier-Stokes equations were solved using a finite volume grid, and a PISO (pressure-implicit with splitting of operators) algorithm was employed to compute the pressure-velocity coupling. An alternating direction implicit(ADI) scheme was used to solve the set of linear algebraic equations. A moving grid methodology with a prescribed periodic motion was employed to simulate the opening and closing of the valve leaflet. Particular attention was paid to simulating the local flow inside the hinge socket of the On-X® valve where experimental measurements are very difficult or impossible. The results show that local flow patterns and pressure distributions in the hinge area of the valve induce full wash-out during the opening and closing phases.
