Fig. 3

Comparison of the development of intraventricular flow with and without incorporating valve leaflets: The intraventricular vortex structure formation during the early filling phase is compared in two different conditions: a without the mitral valve, b physiological leaflet. a The circular major vortex ring starts to form during early diastole in the mitral annulus (t = 0.1). The vortex ring then is pinched off to the middle of LV during mid-diastole (t = 0.15 and 0.2). The major vortex rings start breaking down and propagate towards the middle of the LV at the end of diastole. The distorted vortex then penetrates up to two-thirds of the LV (t = 0.25). b The vortex starts breaking even in the early stage of diastole and reaches to the middle of LV (t = 0.1). As time passes, the major vortex ring propagates deeply toward the middle of LV (t = 0.15) and then starts disintegrating (t = 0.2). The distorted vortex reaches close to the LV apex at the end of diastole (t = 0.25) [12] (Reprinted from [12], with permission from AIP Publishing)