Validation of a Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics Code for Internal Flow Simulations: Application to Hemodynamics in a Realistic Left Heart Cavity Model

A numerical simulation of flow in the left heart cavity, left ventricle, based on Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics, a meshfree particle method is presented. Most of the works using this numerical method have been dedicated to simulation of free surface flows or internal flows with low Reynolds number. The present study is the first work dedicated to simulate the complex flow in a realistic rigid model of left ventricle applying the realistic pulsatile inlet velocity (having moderate Reynolds number) using a meshfree particle method. The numerical validation of our code is performed through the simulation of flow in a cavity at a Reynolds number equal to 1000. Also, the comparison of the results of flow simulation in a simplified geometry of left ventricle with the finite volume results is presented. The smoothed particle hydrodynamics method was able to resolve the flow patterns showing its potential to be applied in complex cardiovascular flow simulations.