Xiao-qin SHEN, Qian YANG, Lin-jin LI, Li CAI, Xiao-shan CAO
The human tricuspid valve, one of the key cardiac structures, plays an important role in the circulatory system. However, there are few mathematical models to accurately simulate it.
In this paper, firstly, we consider the tricuspid valve as an elastic shell with a specific shape and establish its novel geometric model. Concretely, the anterior, the posterior and the septal leaflets of the valve are supposed to be portions of the union of two interfacing semi-elliptic cylindrical shells when they are fully open.
Next, we use Koiter's linear shell model to describe the tricuspid valve leaflets in the static case, and provide a numerical scheme for this elastostatics model. Specifically, we discretize the space variable, i.e., the two tangent components of the displacement are discretized by using conforming finite elements (linear triangles) and the normal component of the displacement is discretized by using conforming Hsieh-Clough-Tocher triangles (HCT triangles).
Finally, we make numerical experiments for the tricuspid valve and analyze the outcome. The numerical results show that the proposed mathematical model describes well the human tricuspid valve subjected to applied forces.