Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-12T19:55:50.791Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

On the fluid dynamics of the aortic valve

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 April 2006

F. K. Wippermann
Affiliation:
Technische Hochschule Darmstadt, Fachbereich Mechanik, D-6100 Darmstadt, FRG

Abstract

An aortic-valve model is developed, having a quadratic cross-section, two rigid cusps and two wedge-shaped aortic sinuses. The flow through this valve is assumed to be one-dimensional, just as the flow behind the cusps should be one-dimensional. The resulting model equations are two nonlinear ordinary differential equations of second order for the valve opening area as a function of time in two different ranges.

This model allows the size of the aortic sinus to be varied; it also permits a computation of the pressure at both sides of the cusps (unlike previous models of this kind, which consider the flow behind the cusps as stagnant). The computed valve motion due to this pressure difference is in good agreement with experimental results, although no vortex with circular streamlines is postulated in the aortic sinuses. Obviously such vortices trapped in the sinuses are not important for the valve closure, which is controlled solely by the flow deceleration.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1985 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bellhouse, B. J. 1969 Velocity and pressure distributions in the aortic valve. J. Fluid Mech. 37, 587.Google Scholar
Bellhouse, B. J. 1972 Fluid mechanics of a model mitral valve and left ventricle. Cardiovasc. Res. 6, 199.Google Scholar
Bellhouse, B. J. 1980 Fluid mechanics of the aortic valve. In Cardiac Dynamics (ed. Baan, Arntzenius & Yellin), chap. 6.4, p. 489. Nijhoff.
Bellhouse, B. J. & Talbot, L. 1969 The fluid mechanics of the aortic valve. J. Fluid Mech. 35, 721.Google Scholar
Davila, J. C. 1961 The mechanics of cardiac valves. In Prosthetic Valves for Cardiac Surgery (ed. K. A. Merendino). C. C. Thomas, Springfield, Ill.
Gillani, N. V. & Swanson, W. M. 1976 Time-dependent laminar incompressible flow through a spherical cavity. J. Fluid Mech. 78, 99.Google Scholar
Henderson, Y. & Johnson, F. E. 1912 Two modes of closure of the heart valves. Heart 4, 69.Google Scholar
Hung, T.-K. & Schuessler, G. B. 1977 An analysis of the hemodynamics of the opening of aortic valves. J. Biomech. 10, 597.Google Scholar
Hwang, N. H. C. 1977 Flow dynamics of natural valves in the left heart. In Cardiovascular Flow Dynamics and Measurements (ed. N. H. C. Hwang & N. A. Norman), chap. 21, p. 825. University Park Press, Baltimore.
Lee, C. S. F. & Talbot, L. 1979 A fluid mechanical study of the closure of heart valves. J. Fluid Mech. 91, 41.Google Scholar
Leonardo da Vinci 1513 Quaderni d'Anatomica 2, 9.
McCracken, M. F. & Peskin, C. S. 1980 A vortex method for blood flow through heart valves. J. Comp. Phys. 35, 183.Google Scholar
Peskin, C. S. 1972 Flow patterns around heart valves: a numerical method. J. Comp. Phys. 10, 252.Google Scholar
Peskin, C. S. 1982 The fluid dynamics of heart valves: experimental, theoretical and computational methods. Ann. Rev. Fluid Mech. 14, 235.Google Scholar
Swanson, W. M. & Clark, R. E. 1974 Dimensions and geometric relationships in the human aortic valve as a function of pressure. Circ. Res. 35, 871.Google Scholar
Valsalva, A. M. 1740 Opera Postuma, Venice (in Latin).
van Steenhoven, A. A. & van Dongen, M. E. H. 1979 Model studies of the closing behaviour of the aortic valve. J. Fluid Mech. 90, 21.Google Scholar
van Steenhoven, A. A., Verlan, C. W. J., Veenstra, P. C. & Reneman, R. S. 1980 The closing behaviour of the aortic valve. In Cardiac Dynamics (ed. Baan, Arntzenius & Yellin), chap. 6.3, p. 477. Nijhoff.