Sigrid Kaarstad Dahl successfully defended her PhD

Several aspects of hemodynamics have been addressed: fluid-structure interaction between rigid (mechanical) mitral valve during diastolic filling of the left ventricle; influence of pulmonary vein positions in the left atrium on the atrial flow field and velocity profile at the mitral valve plane; 3D mapping of subject specific ultrasound recordings of left ventricle during the heart cycle into a discretised time and space variable boundary condition for CFD simulations of the left ventricle; effect of mitral valve shape on velocity profile in the left ventricle outflow tract during systole.
 
The committee writes in their assessment that the thesis is an excellent example of cross-disciplinary research at its best, including input from engineering, non-invasive medical imaging, cardiology and surgeons.
 
Prior to the defence, Kaarstad Dahl presented her trial lecture Pulsatile flow in the arterial system.

The adjudication committee

• Matts Karlsson, Professor, Div Biomedical Modelling and Simulation, Linkøping University
• Stig Urheim, MD PhD, Dep Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Disease, Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet
• Fridtjov Irgens, Professor Emeritus, Dep Structrual Engineering, NTNU

Chair of disputation

• Fridtjov Irgens, Professor Emeritus, Dep Structrual Engineering, NTNU

Supervisors

• Professor Leif Rune Hellevik, Dep Structural Engineering, NTNU
• Professor Bjørn Skallerud, Dep Structural Engineering, NTNU
• Professor Jan Vierendels, Dep Flow and Combustion Mechanics, Ghent University
• Dr. Kent Andre Mardal, Simula Research Laboratory