Thickness Effect on the Structural Durability of a Bileaflet Mechanical Heart Valve

This paper discusses about the thickness effects on the structural durability of a bileaflet mechanical heart valve (MHV). In the study on the design and the mechanical characteristics of a bileaflet mechanical heart valve, the fluid mechanics analysis on the blood flow passing through leaflets, the kinetodynamics analysis on the rigid body motion of the leaflet induced by the pulsatile blood flow, and the structural mechanics analysis for the deformed leaflet are required sequentially and simultaneously. Fluid forces computed in the fluid mechanics analysis on the blood flow are used in the kinetodynamics analysis for the leaflet motion. Thereafter, the structural mechanics analysis for the deformed leaflet follows to predict the structural strength variation of the leaflet as the leaflet thickness changes. Analysis results show that structural deformations and stresses increase as the fluid pressure increases and the leaflet thickness decreases. Analysis results also show that the leaflet becomes structurally weaker and weaker as the leaflet becomes thinner and thinner.