Proper Orthogonal Decomposition Analysis of the Flow Downstream of a Dysfunctional Bileaflet Mechanical Aortic Valve

Aortic valve replacement remains the only viable solution for symptomatic patients with severe aortic valve stenosis. Despite their improved design and long history of successful operation, bileaflet mechanical heart valves are still associated with post-operative complications leading to valve dysfunction. Thus, the flow dynamics can be highly disturbed downstream of the dysfunctional valve.

In this in vitro study, the flow dynamics downstream of healthy and dysfunctional bileaflet mechanical heart valves have been investigated using particle image velocimetry measurements. Proper orthogonal decomposition of the velocity field has been performed in order to explore the coherent flow features in the ascending aorta in the presence of a dysfunctional bileaflet mechanical heart valve.

The ability of proper orthogonal decomposition derived metrics to differentiate between heathy and dysfunctional cases is reported. Moreover, reduced-order modeling using proper orthogonal decomposition is thoroughly investigated not only for the velocity field but also for higher order flow characteristics such as time average wall shear stress, oscillatory shear index and viscous energy dissipation.

Considering these results, proper orthogonal decomposition can provide a rapid binary classifier to evaluate if the bileaflet mechanical valve deviates from its normal operating conditions. Moreover, the study shows that the size of the reduced-order model depends on which flow parameter is required to be reconstructed.