Workflow For Creating a Simulation Ready Virtual Population For Finite Element Modeling

Abstract

Three dimensional imagebased meshing of multipart structures from medical scan data continues to reveal exciting new possibilities for the application of simulation techniques to a wide range of biomedical problems. However, significant challenges to creating a population of simulation compatible models still exist. These include: 1) dataset availability—due to privacy rules and cost, very few readily available dataset repositories of human phantoms exist; 2) segmentation difficulty—segmentation of scan datasets is extremely manhour intensive. Effort is often measured by months to years for a single model; 3) clean CAD model extraction—the faceted volumetric meshes and CAD geometry must contain conformal face mapping between touching objects. Since traditional partbypart meshing approaches risk gaps or overlap between adjacent parts, manual and time consuming repair may be required. This paper demonstrates a potential solution to these challenges through a fast and efficient workflow that begins with newly available anatomical geometries, and culminates in a solved multiobject computational simulation. Using the new series of 4D extended cardiactorso (XCAT) phantoms created by Segars et al., we use ScanIP (Simpleware Ltd., Exeter, UK) to convert these datasets into multiobject simulation ready geometry files that are imported into HFSS (ANSYS Inc., Canonsburg, PA) for EM simulation and analysis.