Critical Flow Regions in Tissue Artificial Heart Valve Assessed by Laser Doppler Anemometer in Continuous Flow

Flow diagnosis using non-invasive techniques such laser Doppler anemometer (LDA) is an important tool to improve the design of artificial heart valves. In the present study, an experimental protocol to obtain flow velocity field and colour coded maps of turbulent eddies dimensions using LDA measurements in a 25 mm bovine pericardium bio prosthesis valve is reported. A transparent Plexiglas chamber was specially designed to allow optical access to the flow passing through the valve. Experiments were conducted for non-pulsate flow (to study the valve performance in the peak flow) for the aorta Reynolds number ranging from 3300 to 6800. LDA interrogation volume visited five thousand and one hundred points along the flow (2500 points upstream and 2600 points downstream) for each Reynolds number. Post-processing methodology was employed to obtain haemolytic potential colour-coded maps, which were related to turbulent quantities. It was observed that haemolytic regions tend to move downstream the valve when the flow rate is increased.