Heart Valve Project
Description of Project: This project was one of the most interesting ones we have had yet. We first were told to do background research around the concepts of the aortic valve which is a one way valve that transports blood through your heart. After we finished our background research we were introduced to the bulk of the project. Our task was to design a working heart valve and test the materials that we use with youngs modulus. We were then told to compare our outcomes to a real aortic valves data.
Content: The main concepts that we went over during this project were concepts sorrounding youngs modulus. Youngs modulus is an equation to see how easy it is to stretch a certain object. It is the ratio between tensile strain and tensile stress. We were able to find these variables using a spring scale, a ring stand, and weights to test the elasticity of out materials then input our data into google sheets. Once we had our stress and strain values input into google sheets we were able to find the amount of pascals of each material and compare then to a regular aortic valve. Ours what not close at all which would make sense because pvc pipe has next to 0 ellasticity. We used the line of best fit and its congruent equation in order to find the elasticity
Reflection: This project was definetley not my favorite but one upside to it is that it was very informing sorrounding the topics of elasticity, stress, strain, andd all of the components of youngs modulus in general. I also foynd it amusing that we were trying to create a replacement for a real world organ that exists inside of me. The best part of this project is definetley the fact that we will be able to compute other things in engineering using youngs modulus that could relate to our capastone project and make the proccess of building it easier.