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biomedical modelling


large-scale HPC resources are a necessity at this level, as the degree of accuracy and anatomical detail that can be obtained from clinical imagery is very high. In a published case study, Vázquez confirms


that the project team is capable of simulating two ventricles models coming from real geometries (dogs, rabbits and humans) for the electro-mechanical coupling, in meshes, of tens of millions of elements. Tis high resolution is determined by experimental data acquisition – as happens with HPC soſtware and hardware, medical data acquisition is getting better at a faster pace than simulation soſtware. For the coupled electromechanical problem, Alya has attained more than 90 per cent linear scalability with up to 2,000 cores. Tis efficiency allows the


programming of complex electrophysiology, coupling and material models, which their developers usually can test only in toy problems. Vázquez adds: ‘Tis is a very rewarding area


and we hope to open the collaboration up to other aspects of medical research. Doctors must formulate the problems, but it’s important to remember how important the people who develop the simulation tools and the clinical image processing are. Our main collaborators come from the Hospital Sant Pau, the Universitat of Lleida and the Computer Vision Center of the UAB, all in Spain.’ He concludes by stating that, moving forward, simulation is going to increasingly be called upon as a medical science tool and these computational hearts are going to have many different applications.


This spaghetti-like structure is how the project team represented the muscular fibre field


Case Study: Finite-element models from CT scans of artificial knee joints T


he University of Applied Sciences in Amberg-Weiden is a leading German university in the field of product development, rapid prototyping,


simulation and materials science. Led by Professor Franz Magerl, a team was tasked with providing recommendations regarding the structural stability and performance of artificial knee joints. Tis was to be achieved by creating accurate finite-element models of the polymer joints, using computer tomography (CT) scans. Professor Magerl explains: ‘Aſter we


received the CT data, we used it to produce voxel (volumetric pixel) data which we then transferred to STL, a format that represents 3D surface geometry. Tis format is used with HyperWorks for surface meshing for the purposes of finite-element calculations, and based on this we were then able to create a volume mesh. We had been concerned about the structural integrity of the knee joints, but the soſtware made calculations regarding easy- to-verify critical stresses and we were able to determine that the joints were in fact sound.’ Due to the size and the level of detail in a


CT model, in the past it has been very difficult to create high-quality FE meshes based on CT data. In order to obtain accurate results from the simulation, the team need a good FE mesh. ‘With HyperMorph, a morphing tool within HyperMesh, engineers can change the shape of FE meshes without sacrificing the element quality and thus explore many new designs in a very short time,’ says Stuart Sampson, director of modelling and visualisation at Altair Engineering. He adds that shape optimisation picks up the shapes created by the morphing technology to find their best combination for


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a structure based on OptiStruct’s optimisation algorithms. According to a case study published by


Altair Engineering, the CT scan of the knee joint, available as triangulated surfaces data, was imported into HyperMesh. Te STL mesh cannot be used for simulations because of poor element quality, however HyperMesh includes a function that re-meshes existing meshes, such as a STL model, without underlying analytical geometry information (e.g. IGES data) to improve mesh quality. Te soſtware created surface approximations


in the background and generated a shell mesh based on that approximation. As a result, small geometric details inside the artificial knee joint, such as a bubble inclusion, could be captured with a high-fidelity mesh. In a second step,


THE SOFTWARE


CREATED SURFACE APPROXIMATIONS AND GENERATED A SHELL MESH BASED ON THAT


a tetrahedral-based model was created from the shell mesh and boundary conditions were applied. As Professor Magerl confirmed, the simulation revealed non-critical stresses in the area of the bubble, so there was no need to improve the manufacturing process. Looking at the broader landscape of


biomedical modelling, Stuart Sampson adds that, as computers and solvers are getting more powerful, engineers are considering an increasing number of details in the modelling


process. A pre-processor needs to be able to generate these models, which can have many million elements, while efficient definition of boundary conditions and final model setup are also important aspects. ‘Solvers need to be capable to handle these


large and complex models, which not only have many elements, but also show highly nonlinear geometric and material behaviour. Last but not least, a strong pre-processor needs to handle the large result files efficiently and fast,’ continues Samson. ‘Te requirements keep changing due to the increasing complexity of the models. Where, years back, more assumptions and abstractions had to be made, biomedical models now are more detailed and more features are taken into account (e.g. muscles and sinews).’ He believes that the performance of soſtware


to handle large and complex models should play a big role. Tis counts, he says, for all stages of model handling, such as preparation, solving and post-processing. For the biomedical field geometric accuracy and mesh quality are very important, as is the value of a soſtware solution. ‘Virtual traumatology – including the design, analysis and validation of a “virtual human body” and of the evaluation of possible injuries – is certainly one of the areas where we have seen the greatest number of applications over the last years, and we see this trend continuing in the future,’ Samson comments. ‘Te reason is obviously the possibility to simulate with a great level of accuracy events otherwise not reproducible in a “testing” environment. Moreover, the definition of detailed models of the human body opens new research fields for biomedical purposes, ranging from implant designs to virtual surgery simulation.’


FEBRUARY/MARCH 2013 33


Barcelona Supercomputing Center


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