A fluid-structure coupling model for haemodynamics simulation of normal aortic valve

Fluid-structure interaction is the interaction of flexible structures with surrounding fluid flow. At systolic phase, the aortic valve's deformation involves a strong interaction between the valve leaflets and blood flow. This paper models the aortic valve dynamics by developing a fluid-structure interaction simulation of coupling the computational fluid dynamics software FLU-ENT and the finite element analysis software ABAQUS. The model reduces the complexity of calculations by assuming that the valve suffered only transvalvular pressure during systole and performs data exchange between two codes via commercial pre-processing software. A valve geometry model is developed with the valve diameter of 23.5 mm, the leaflet height 10 mm and the leaflet thickness 0.2 mm. The interaction between the valve leaflets and surrounding blood flow results in a complex flow field due to the valve orifice variations during each heart beat. The results highlight an insight of dynamics of the aortic valve during systole. The haemodynamics of the aortic valve under fluid-structure interaction and shear stress distribution of the aortic valve during systolic phase are also discussed in detail.