Passive flow control of bileaflet mechanical heart valve leakage flow

Blood damage and platelet activation are inherent problems with present day mechanical heart valve designs. We investigate the approach of passive flow control applied to bileaflet mechanical heart valve (BMHV) flows as a means of optimizing leakage flow hemodynamics at length scales relevant to blood damage and platelet activation. Rectangular and hemispherical vortex generator (VG) arrays were mounted on the downstream surfaces of a 25 mm St. Jude Medical valve adjacent to the b-datum leaflet edge (central line where the two leaflets touch in closed position). The effect of VGs on the flow structure emanating from the b-datum line under both pulsatile and steady flow conditions was measured using high resolution particle image velocimetry technique. The VGs were seen to spatially disperse and dissipate the coherent leakage jet structure emanating from the b-datum line. This resulted in a significant diminution of turbulence stresses, particularly with the rectangular VG configuration. This study shows that passive flow control techniques deployed on BHMVs is potentially beneficial as significant control of flow at small length scales may be achieved without altering large scale designs of the valve.