A two-dimensional prototype multi-physics model of the right ventricle of the heart

Abstract

The heart operates as a delicate function of the interactions among its electro-chemical, structural and fluid components. The objective of this paper is to describe the computational modelling of the interaction between simplified forms of the electro-chemical, structural and fluid behaviour. It is because the objective here is to evaluate the interactions among the phenomena that the specific models of the electro-chemical, fluid and structural behaviour are kept as simple as possible. The electro-chemical model is drawn from that of Clayton and Holden, while the blood is assumed to be a conventional slightly compressible Navier-Stokes fluid and the heart wall is a simple elastic structure modelled via the static equations. The model is implemented within a multi-physics finite volume solver environment using an unstructured mesh approach, which enables the implementation of models for each of the specific phenomenon and their interactions. The model is two dimensional, but shows how the electric field drives a cross section of the wall so that it pumps the blood in and out of the right ventricle geometry. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.