Molding Aortic Valve Hemodynamics Using a Novel Immersed Boundary Method

This research entails the study of the transfer and transport of a passive scalar around the aortic valve to aid in understanding Calcific Aortic Valve Disease (CAVD). Simulations were conducted using a novel interpolation-free sharp-interface immersed boundary method. The method is generic in nature, enabling imposing boundary conditions for scalar concentration to investigate CAVD. In this study, the 3D geometry of the native tricuspid AV including the cusps, commissures, and sinuses will be reconstructed based on the parametric model developed by (Rami Haj-Ali 2012) based on the AV anatomy and measurements reported in the literature. We will solve advection-diffusion transport equations to find the scalar transport, albeit in a Fluid- Structure Interaction (FSI) setting. The FSI framework will be based on the developed immersed boundary coupled with a solid solver (Calculix (Guido Dhondt 2020)) using preCICE (preCICE 2021). The results will be employed to evaluate the distribution of scalar concentration on leaflets as well as to understand the correlation between the level of concentration and valve movements. The correlation between the predicted scalar concentration and several WSS-based parameters (WSS, WSSG, OSI, GON, RRT) will be also investigated. Parallel simulations are to be conducted on a High-Power Computer from Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC). Approximately 15 million computational points will be decomposed into 560 processors.