Computational Analysis of Tricuspid Heart Valves

Understanding the mechanical behavior of valve materials and the hemodynamic characteristics of blood flow is important for improving prosthetic heart valve design. In this study, a comprehensive computational investigation was conducted to evaluate the biomechanical and hemodynamic behavior of a three-dimensional tricuspid valve model constructed from reported prosthetic valve geometries. The structural response of the valve was evaluated using linear elastic, viscoelastic, and hyperelastic constitutive models for four different materials: pyrolytic carbon, polyurethane, porcine tissue, and bovine tissue. The results demonstrated clear material-dependent trends. Pyrolytic carbon exhibited negligible deformation (1.7166 × 10⁻⁸ m), confirming its rigid mechanical behavior, whereas biological tissues showed greater compliance, with the largest deformation observed for the bovine hyperelastic model (9.6837 × 10⁻⁵ m). Hyperelastic tissue models produced lower peak von Mises stresses (1.3951 × 10⁴–1.8603 × 10⁴ Pa) than the corresponding linear elastic tissue models (2.6842 × 10⁴–2.7017 × 10⁴ Pa), indicating improved stress redistribution under nonlinear deformation. Polyurethane showed intermediate mechanical behavior, with moderate deformation and lower stress under viscoelastic modeling than under the linear elastic assumption, suggesting its potential as a polymeric alternative to traditional valve materials. The Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis of the rigid open valve geometry revealed a central velocity jet with a peak velocity of approximately 0.092 m/s, localized vortex formation with a maximum vorticity magnitude of about 177 s⁻¹ and a peak instantaneous wall shear stress of 1.32 Pa near the leaflet edges and valve opening. Overall, the results highlight the trade-off between rigidity, compliance, and durability among prosthetic valve materials and suggest that polyurethane may provide a balanced alternative for tricuspid valve replacement.