CFD simulation of flow through heart: a perspective review.

The heart is an organ which pumps blood around the body by contraction of muscular wall. There is a coupled system in the heart containing the motion of wall and the motion of blood fluid; both motions must be computed simultaneously, which make biological computational fluid dynamics (CFD) difficult. The wall of the heart is not rigid and hence proper boundary conditions are essential for CFD modelling. Fluid-wall interaction is very important for real CFD modelling. There are many assumptions for CFD simulation of the heart that make it far from a real model. A realistic fluid-structure interaction modelling the structure by the finite element method and the fluid flow by CFD use more realistic coupling algorithms. This type of method is very powerful to solve the complex properties of the cardiac structure and the sensitive interaction of fluid and structure. The final goal of heart modelling is to simulate the total heart function by integrating cardiac anatomy, electrical activation, mechanics, metabolism and fluid mechanics together, as in the computational framework.