Fully-coupled fluid-structure interaction simulation of the aortic and mitral valves in a realistic 3D left ventricle model

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 12; no. 9; p. e0184729
• Main Authors: Mao, Wenbin, Caballero, Andrés, McKay, Raymond, Primiano, Charles, Sun, Wei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 08.09.2017; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Angles (geometry); Aorta; Aortic Valve - physiology; Biology and Life Sciences; Biomechanics; Biomedical engineering; Cardiology; Clinical decision making; Computational fluid dynamics; Computational physics; Computer simulation; Decision making; Echocardiography; Engineering; Finite Element Analysis; Finite element method; Fluid dynamics; Fluid flow; Fluid-structure interaction; Heart; Heart diseases; Heart valves; Hemodynamics; Hemodynamics - physiology; Humans; Hydrodynamics; Iron; Kinematics; Laboratories; Mathematical models; Medical imaging; Medicine and Health Sciences; Methods; Mitral Valve - physiology; Models, Biological; Physical Sciences; Physiology; Simulation; Smooth particle hydrodynamics; Studies; Surgery; Thoracic surgery; Three dimensional models; Ventricle; Atlanta Georgia; United States > US; Connecticut
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0184729
• ISSN: 1932-6203

In this study, we present a fully-coupled fluid-structure interaction (FSI) framework that combines smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) and nonlinear finite element (FE) method to investigate the coupled aortic and mitral valves structural response and the bulk intraventricular hemodynamics in a realistic left ventricle (LV) model during the entire cardiac cycle. The FSI model incorporates valve structures that consider native asymmetric leaflet geometries, anisotropic hyperelastic material models and human material properties. Comparison of FSI results with subject-specific echocardiography data demonstrates that the SPH-FE approach is able to quantitatively predict the opening and closing times of the valves, the mitral leaflet opening and closing angles, and the large-scale intraventricular flow phenomena with a reasonable agreement. Moreover, comparison of FSI results with a LV model without valves reveals substantial differences in the flow field. Peak systolic velocities obtained from the FSI model and the LV model without valves are 2.56 m/s and 1.16 m/s, respectively, compared to the Doppler echo data of 2.17 m/s. The proposed SPH-FE FSI framework represents a further step towards modeling patient-specific coupled LV-valve dynamics, and has the potential to improve our understanding of cardiovascular physiology and to support professionals in clinical decision-making.