Trends in cardiac dynamics: Towards coupled models of intracavity fluid dynamics and deformable wall mechanics

The results in the development of a computational model in cardiac mechanics considering the coupled effects of ventricular mechanics and intercardiac hemodynamics are reported in this paper. Firstly, the complex geometrical, architectural and rheological properties of the organ were simplified to propose a 'quasi-analytical model'. Then by imposing the time variation of the input and output flow rate and activation function, the overall distribution of fluid pressure and velocity inside the cavity and the distribution of the stresses and strains inside the wall were computed. The model derived characterizes the cardiac performance from the fluid and envelope kinematics data given a few parameters related to the mentioned properties of the heart.