Modelling of a human mitral valve within left ventricle with fluid-structure interaction

Computational modelling of the mechanical interaction of the mitral valve with the blood flow, particularly within the context of the left ventricular (LV) environment, can improve our understanding of valvular mechanics, and potentially lead to more efficient approaches to MV repair and replacement. To date, very few studies have reported valvular-heart modelling with fluid-structure interaction (FSI). In this study, we present a stand-alone MV model that includes physiologically detailed descriptions of the leaflets and the chordae tendineae with three different mathematical representations [1]. We then present an integrated MV-LV model based on magnetic resonance images acquired from a healthy volunteer [2]. The new MV-LV model incorporates the important valvular features, LV contraction, nonlinear soft tissue mechanics, as well as FSI. The MV and the MV-LV FSI model are developed using an open-source immersed boundary-finite element simulation framework.