Computer graphics analysis of stresses in blood flow through a prosthetic heart valve

Fluid dynamics principles and numerical analysis techniques are applied to the study of stress distribution in blood caused by the motion of the occluder in a prosthetic heart valve. An interactive computer graphics program is developed for the simulation of the flow process and the pictoral presentation of the solution for analysis. Resulting graphics displays show the stress distribution and other flow parameters which describe the movement of a disc occluder from fullclosed position to an almost full-open position. The possible contributions of this study to the understanding of hemolysis and thrombosis associated with prosthetic heart valves are discussed.