BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Prosthetic heart valves: ideas for improvement - Roberto Zenit\, U
 NAM\, Mexico City
DTSTART:20160122T123000Z
DTEND:20160122T133000Z
UID:TALK63955@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Julius Bier Kirkegaard
DESCRIPTION:Cardiovascular disease continues to be the leading cause of de
 ath worldwide.  Each year there are more than one million heart surgeries 
 and procedures conducted in the US alone\; about one quarter of all open h
 eart surgeries are performed to remedy heart valve malfunctions. Prostheti
 c heart valves have been implanted for more than 50 years and\, nowadays\,
  such devices are readily available in a wide variety of designs. However\
 , the performance of these prostheses is still far from ideal\, as patient
 s have to endure numerous post-operatory complications. Surprisingly\, or 
 maybe not\, many of the performance problems are related to the fluid flow
  through such devices. In this talk\, an overview of the current state of 
 prosthetic heart valve research will be given. I will present our efforts 
 to find a simplified flow configuration that permits us to make progress i
 n the fundamental understanding of the problem but yet retains the complex
 ities needed for it to be relevant for real heart valves. A pulsatile chan
 nel flow interacting with a pair of flexible elastic leaflets is considere
 d. The size-elasticity-flow conditions for which the array functions as a 
 valve are found and analyzed. To complete our study\, we also address the 
 need to minimize the amount of stress imposed to the fluid in a given valv
 e design. Finally\, some preliminary results of the effect of considering 
 non Newtonian fluids will be presented and discussed.
LOCATION:MR4\, Centre for Mathematical Sciences\, Wilberforce Road\, Cambr
 idge
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR