Numerical Simulation of Fetal Circulatory System with Focus on the Cardiac Model*

In this poster, we present a numerical simulation of the fetal circulatory system, including the heart. The fetal model incorporates 19 compartments for the major organs and placenta, utilizing a lumped model approach, while the heart is modeled using a two-dimensional partial differential equation (PDE) based on the immersed boundary method. The heart consists of two atria and two ventricles, each with source/sink connections for inflow and outflow of blood. Additionally, apart from the four valves between the left and right atria and ventricles and the aorta and pulmonary artery, there is an extra valve located between the left and right atria for controlling the oval foramen.

The simulation physically implements the five cardiac valves in the fetal heart. Through this model, we aim to replicate the normal fetal circulatory system and explore its potential application in congenital heart disease research and related fields.