Stochastic Elastohydrodynamics of Soft Valves.

Authors

Mengfei He, Sungkyu Cho, Gianna Dafflisio, Sitaram Emani, L Mahadevan

Published in

Physical review letters. Volume 137. Issue 15. Pages 158401. Oct 09, 2026.

Abstract

Biological valves control the directionality of oscillatory or fluctuating internal flows by deforming (reversibly) to stop flow. To uncover the physical basis for flow rectification in these systems, we introduce a simple physical mimic of the mitral heart valve that is shaped like a soft conical shell in an impinging flow. Combining ex vivo porcine-heart and in vitro conical valve experiments, we show how noise-activated buckling deformations serve to rectify the flow. We quantitatively explain our observations using a minimal elastohydrodynamic theory for valve closure that leads to a dynamical bifurcation driven by stochastic hydrodynamic forces. Our theory also suggests that valve collapse can be triggered on demand, which we corroborate using experiments. Together, these results suggest a design principle for the efficient operation of soft valves.

PMID:
42949459
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 28 Oct 2026.

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