855 research outputs found
Data Repository of Finite Element Models of Normal and Deformed Thoracolumbar Spine
Adult spine deformity (ASD) is prevalent and leads to a sagittal misalignment
in the vertebral column. Computational methods, including Finite Element (FE)
Models, have emerged as valuable tools for investigating the causes and
treatment of ASD through biomechanical simulations. However, the process of
generating personalized FE models is often complex and time-consuming. To
address this challenge, we present a repository of FE models with diverse spine
morphologies that statistically represent real geometries from a cohort of
patients. These models are generated using EOS images, which are utilized to
reconstruct 3D surface spine models. Subsequently, a Statistical Shape Model
(SSM) is constructed, enabling the adaptation of a FE hexahedral mesh template
for both the bone and soft tissues of the spine through mesh morphing. The SSM
deformation fields facilitate the personalization of the mean hexahedral FE
model based on sagittal balance measurements. Ultimately, this new hexahedral
SSM tool offers a means to generate a virtual cohort of 16807 thoracolumbar FE
spine models, which are openly shared in a public repository
High-quality conforming hexahedral meshes of patient-specific abdominal aortic aneurysms including their intraluminal thrombi
In order to perform finite element (FE) analyses of patient-specific abdominal aortic aneurysms, geometries derived from medical images must be meshed with suitable elements. We propose a semi-automatic method for generating conforming hexahedral meshes directly from contours segmented from medical images. Magnetic resonance images are generated using a protocol developed to give the abdominal aorta high contrast against the surrounding soft tissue. These data allow us to distinguish between the different structures of interest. We build novel quadrilateral meshes for each surface of the sectioned geometry and generate conforming hexahedral meshes by combining the quadrilateral meshes. The three-layered morphology of both the arterial wall and thrombus is incorporated using parameters determined from experiments. We demonstrate the quality of our patient-specific meshes using the element Scaled Jacobian. The method efficiently generates high-quality elements suitable for FE analysis, even in the bifurcation region of the aorta into the iliac arteries. For example, hexahedral meshes of up to 125,000 elements are generated in less than 130 s, with 94.8 % of elements well suited for FE analysis. We provide novel input for simulations by independently meshing both the arterial wall and intraluminal thrombus of the aneurysm, and their respective layered morphologies
HybridOctree_Hex: Hybrid Octree-Based Adaptive All-Hexahedral Mesh Generation with Jacobian Control
We present a new software package, "HybridOctree_Hex," for adaptive
all-hexahedral mesh generation based on hybrid octree and quality improvement
with Jacobian control. The proposed HybridOctree_Hex begins by detecting
curvatures and narrow regions of the input boundary to identify key surface
features and initialize an octree structure. Subsequently, a strongly balanced
octree is constructed using the balancing and pairing rules. Inspired by our
earlier preliminary hybrid octree-based work, templates are designed to
guarantee an all-hexahedral dual mesh generation directly from the strongly
balanced octree. With these pre-defined templates, the sophisticated hybrid
octree construction step is skipped to achieve an efficient implementation.
After that, elements outside and around the boundary are removed to create a
core mesh. The boundary points of the core mesh are connected to their
corresponding closest points on the surface to fill the buffer zone and build
the final mesh. Coupled with smart Laplacian smoothing, HybridOctree_Hex takes
advantage of a delicate optimization-based quality improvement method
considering geometric fitting, Jacobian and scaled Jacobian, to achieve a
minimum scaled Jacobian that is higher than . We empirically verify the
robustness and efficiency of our method by running the HybridOctree_Hex
software on dozens of complex 3D models without any manual intervention or
parameter adjustment. We provide the HybridOctree_Hex source code, along with
comprehensive results encompassing the input and output files and statistical
data in the following repository: https://github.com/CMU-CBML/HybridOctree_Hex
Higher-order block-structured hex meshing of tubular structures
Numerical simulations of the cardiovascular system are growing in popularity due to the increasing availability of computational power, and their proven contribution to the understanding of pathodynamics and validation of medical devices with in-silico trials as a potential future breakthrough. Such simulations are performed on volumetric meshes reconstructed from patient-specific imaging data. These meshes are most often unstructured, and result in a brutally large amount of elements, significantly increasing the computational complexity of the simulations, whilst potentially adversely affecting their accuracy. To reduce such complexity, we introduce a new approach for fully automatic generation of higher-order, structured hexahedral meshes of tubular structures, with a focus on healthy blood vessels. The structures are modeled as skeleton-based convolution surfaces. From the same skeleton, the topology is captured by a block-structure, and the geometry by a higher-order surface mesh. Grading may be induced to obtain tailored refinement, thus resolving, e.g., boundary layers. The volumetric meshing is then performed via transfinite mappings. The resulting meshes are of arbitrary order, their elements are of good quality, while the spatial resolution may be as coarse as needed, greatly reducing computing time. Their suitability for practical applications is showcased by a simulation of physiological blood flow modelled by a generalised Newtonian fluid in the human aorta
Unstructured and semi-structured hexahedral mesh generation methods
Discretization techniques such as the finite element method, the finite volume method or the discontinuous Galerkin method are the most used simulation techniques in ap- plied sciences and technology. These methods rely on a spatial discretization adapted to the geometry and to the prescribed distribution of element size. Several fast and robust algorithms have been developed to generate triangular and tetrahedral meshes. In these methods local connectivity modifications are a crucial step. Nevertheless, in hexahedral meshes the connectivity modifications propagate through the mesh. In this sense, hexahedral meshes are more constrained and therefore, more difficult to gener- ate. However, in many applications such as boundary layers in computational fluid dy- namics or composite material in structural analysis hexahedral meshes are preferred. In this work we present a survey of developed methods for generating structured and unstructured hexahedral meshes.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version
A framework for automatic and perceptually valid facial expression generation
Facial expressions are facial movements reflecting the internal emotional states of a character or in response to social communications. Realistic facial animation should consider at least two factors: believable visual effect and valid facial movements. However, most research tends to separate these two issues. In this paper, we present a framework for generating 3D facial expressions considering both the visual the dynamics effect. A facial expression mapping approach based on local geometry encoding is proposed, which encodes deformation in the 1-ring vector. This method is capable of mapping subtle facial movements without considering those shape and topological constraints. Facial expression mapping is achieved through three steps: correspondence establishment, deviation transfer and movement mapping. Deviation is transferred to the conformal face space through minimizing the error function. This function is formed by the source neutral and the deformed face model related by those transformation matrices in 1-ring neighborhood. The transformation matrix in 1-ring neighborhood is independent of the face shape and the mesh topology. After the facial expression mapping, dynamic parameters are then integrated with facial expressions for generating valid facial expressions. The dynamic parameters were generated based on psychophysical methods. The efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed methods have been tested using various face models with different shapes and topological representations
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