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Controlling the Flow Separation in Heart Valves Using Vortex Generators

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Abstract

A comprehensive computational study is performed to investigate the effectiveness of vortex generators (VGs) applied to mechanical bi-leaflet heart valves. Co-rotating and counter-rotating VG configurations are compared to a control valve without VGs. Detailed flow fields are obtained and used to elucidate the underlying flow physics. It was found that VGs reduce flow separation over the leaflets and hence reduce the Reynolds shear stress (RSS) in the vicinity regions of heart valve. The co-rotating VG configuration demonstrates a better performance compared with the counter-rotating configuration in terms of the RSS, turbulent kinetic energy production and velocity distributions, especially in the peripheral jet flows. The fraction of blood damage in the co-rotating configuration shows a 4.7% reduction in comparison to the control case, while a 3.7% increase is observed in the counter-rotating configuration. The passive flow control technique of applying co-rotating VG illustrates a great potential to help mitigate the hemodynamic factors leading to potential blood damage risk.

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Funding

The research done was partly supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) under Award Numbers R01HL135505 and R21HL139208.

Conflict of interest

Dr. Dasi report a patent on developing blood-compatible polymers, an invention disclosure for polymeric valved conduit fabrication and durability optimization of heart valves, patents for designing prosthetic heart valves and vortex generators on heart valves. Dr. Dasi is the founder of YoungHeartValve LLC and Dasi Simulations LLC. Dr. Hatoum reports having filed a patent application on computational predictive modeling of thrombosis in heart valves and on a Novel Implantable Vascular Shunt with Real-Time Precise Flow Control.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Simulation Innovation and Modeling Center (SIMCenter), The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Zhenyu Wang

  2. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Zhenyu Wang

  3. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Lakshmi Prasad Dasi

  4. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, USA

    Hoda Hatoum

  5. Health Research Institute, Center of Biocomputing and Digital Health and Institute of Computing and Cybernetics, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, USA

    Hoda Hatoum

Authors
  1. Zhenyu Wang
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  2. Lakshmi Prasad Dasi
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  3. Hoda Hatoum
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Correspondence to Hoda Hatoum.

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Associate Editor Jane Grande-Allen oversaw the review of this article.

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Wang, Z., Dasi, L.P. & Hatoum, H. Controlling the Flow Separation in Heart Valves Using Vortex Generators. Ann Biomed Eng 50, 914–928 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-022-02966-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-022-02966-5

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