Numerical investigation on effect of leaflet thickness on structural stresses developed in a bileaflet mechanical heart valve for its sustainable manufacturing

Flow induced structural stresses can cause mechanical prosthetic aortic valve to fail due to yielding. In this study, we have performed the structural analysis, especially the effect of leaflet thickness on equivalent stresses developed in a Bileaflet mechanical heart valve (BMHV) due to blood flow through it has been investigated. The leaflet thickness varies from 0.5mm to 0.7mm, by 0.1mm. A fluid-structure interaction approach based on Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) technique has been employed with the aid of an user defined function (UDF). Results of the analysis show that high von Mises stresses are developed in BMHV with leaflet thickness of 0.5mm and 0.6mm, being 75 and 13 higher than allowable equivalent stress respectively. Such thinner leaflets are therefore, not sustainable to be replaced with diseased aortic valve. © The authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2017.