ALE finite element analysis of the opening and closing process of the artificial mechanical valve (Q1352715)

The authors present an arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) finite element analysis of the opening and closing process of a St. Jude medical value using a two-dimensional model of the mechanical valve-blood interaction in which the valve is regarded as a rigid body rotating around a fixed point, and the blood is treated as viscous incompressible Newtonian fluid. The numerical analysis of the opening and closing behaviour of the St. Jude valve suggests that: (i) the whole opening and closing process of an artificial mechanical valve consists of four phases; (ii) the valve exhibits a prominent regurgitation which results in water-hammer effect; and (iii) during the opening and closing process of the valve, high shear stresses occur in the middle region of the two leaflets and on the valve ring.