A comparative study of structural analyses for flat and curved mechanical heart valve prostheses to enhance durability

Abstract

This paper addresses a comparative study of structural analyses for flat and curved mechanical heart valve prostheses. The same fluid force computed by the fluid mechanics analysis for the blood flow passing through the leaflets of a bileaflet mechanical heart valve prosthesis is used to both flat and curved mechanical heart valve prostheses for comparison. This fluid force is applied to both mechanical heart valve prostheses for the rigid body dynamics analyses to confirm the kinematic and dynamic characteristics of leaflet motions. Thereafter, using the dynamic characteristics of leaflet motions, the structural mechanics analyses for deformed leaflets of both flat and curved mechanical heart valve prostheses are executed to give quite different stress and deflection results even though they have the almost same kinematic and dynamic characteristics.