Immersogeometric cardiovascular fluid-structure interaction analysis with divergence-conforming B-splines.

Area of Science:

• Computational Fluid Dynamics
• Biomedical Engineering
• Numerical Analysis

Background:

• Immersed methods for fluid-structure interaction (FSI) often suffer from poor mass conservation.
• This mass leakage can significantly disrupt the accurate simulation of FSI systems, particularly those involving thin barriers like heart valves.
• Existing methods represent structural influence as a forcing term, which exacerbates conservation issues.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address the critical issue of mass conservation in immersed FSI methods.
• To enhance the accuracy and reliability of computational fluid-structure interaction simulations.
• To improve the modeling of systems where precise fluid flow is essential, such as cardiac function.

Main Methods:

• Employs a divergence-conforming B-spline fluid discretization within an immersogeometric framework.
• Analyzes the convergence properties of the method using linear model problems.
• Applies the enhanced method to the fluid-structure interaction analysis of heart valves.

Main Results:

• The divergence-conforming discretization enforces exact mass conservation, eliminating fluid leakage through solid barriers.
• Demonstrates improved qualitative behavior in FSI simulations compared to methods with poor mass conservation.
• Successfully models an in vitro experiment involving water flow through an artificial heart valve.

Conclusions:

• Divergence-conforming B-splines offer a robust solution to mass conservation challenges in immersed FSI.
• The immersogeometric method, enhanced with this discretization, is practically useful for complex FSI analysis.
• This approach provides a more accurate and reliable computational tool for studying biological systems like heart valves.