We present a new numerical simulation framework for prediction of flow patterns in the human left ventricle model. In this study, a radial basis function (RBF) mesh morphing method is developed and applied within the finite-volume computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach. The numerical simulations are designed to closely mimic details of recent tomographic particle image velocimetry (TomoPIV) experiments. The numerically simulated dynamic motions of the left ventricle and tri-leaflet biological mitral valve are emulated through the RBF morphing method. The arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) based CFD is performed with the RBF-defined deforming wall boundaries. The results obtained show a good agreement with experiments, confirming the reliability and accuracy of the developed simulation framework.

Mitral valve (MV) leaflets affect the formation, growth, and decay of vortices in the left ventricle (LV) during diastolic filling. The shape and motion of MV leaflets are simplified in most studies due to computational restrictions. In this study, we present a newly developed mathematical method to model the dynamic movement of valve leaflets and annulus, which is based on in vivo data obtained with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In the present method, we solve a boundary value problem where the MV surface is initially unknown. The resultant MV shapes are included in a dynamic motion model of the LV to assess the change of intraventricular flow patterns. To estimate the effects of the MV on left intraventricular flow, a LV model without MV leaflets was also simulated for comparison. Our study showed that the presence of the MV and the shape of its leaflets significantly altered the formation and evolution of vortex structures in the LV. The various MV leaflet shapes accelerate the transvalvular flow distinctly, leading to different formation and development of vortex structures.