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Updating Micro-FE Meshes in Computational Simulations of Bone Tissue Remodelling
Local tissue loading is probably the most important factor triggering bone remodelling. To calculate tissue loading, micro-FE analysis is often used. The purpose of this study is to develop an efficient way of updating FE meshes in bone remodelling simulations that require iterative FE analysis.
Keywords: FE Mesh Generation, Micro-FE Analysis, Bone Remodelling Simulation, Micro-CT Imaging
Simulating how bones change due to disease and treatment would be a useful tool for clinicians supporting their treatment selection and prognosis. At the Institute for Biomechanics at ETH Zurich we have developed a computational model of bone remodelling that is based on tissue loading calculations from micro-finite element (FE) analysis. The FE solver in use at the institute was developed and implemented at the Department of Computer Science at ETH Zurich (Peter Arbenz). An example tissue loading calculation is shown below for the human distal radius. Since micro-FE models are derived from micro-CT images, these models can contain hundreds of millions of elements and are thus computational time intensive. In our current implementation, a micro-FE analysis is performed in each simulation-iteration but it has not been investigated yet how to efficiently update the FE mesh from one iteration to the next one and how the solution of the FE analysis of one iteration might be used in the proceeding iteration. It is expected that there is potential to reduce the required computational time for such iterative bone remodelling simulations.
The student will study the implementation of our FE solver (ParOSol), how the FE results are stored (HDF5), the functioning of the bone remodelling algorithm, and delve into the respective literature in order to come up with a solution to update FE meshes in bone remodelling simulations. The project is thus suited for students with an interest in computational science, programming (C++), and image analysis. This is a joint project between Prof Peter Arbenz of the Department of Computer Science and Prof Ralph Müller of the Department of Health Sciences and Technology at ETH Zurich.
Task: 90% computational, 10% image analysis
Simulating how bones change due to disease and treatment would be a useful tool for clinicians supporting their treatment selection and prognosis. At the Institute for Biomechanics at ETH Zurich we have developed a computational model of bone remodelling that is based on tissue loading calculations from micro-finite element (FE) analysis. The FE solver in use at the institute was developed and implemented at the Department of Computer Science at ETH Zurich (Peter Arbenz). An example tissue loading calculation is shown below for the human distal radius. Since micro-FE models are derived from micro-CT images, these models can contain hundreds of millions of elements and are thus computational time intensive. In our current implementation, a micro-FE analysis is performed in each simulation-iteration but it has not been investigated yet how to efficiently update the FE mesh from one iteration to the next one and how the solution of the FE analysis of one iteration might be used in the proceeding iteration. It is expected that there is potential to reduce the required computational time for such iterative bone remodelling simulations.
The student will study the implementation of our FE solver (ParOSol), how the FE results are stored (HDF5), the functioning of the bone remodelling algorithm, and delve into the respective literature in order to come up with a solution to update FE meshes in bone remodelling simulations. The project is thus suited for students with an interest in computational science, programming (C++), and image analysis. This is a joint project between Prof Peter Arbenz of the Department of Computer Science and Prof Ralph Müller of the Department of Health Sciences and Technology at ETH Zurich.
Task: 90% computational, 10% image analysis
Goal: Efficiently updating FE meshes in bone remodelling simulations.
Goal: Efficiently updating FE meshes in bone remodelling simulations.
Patrik Christen (patrik.christen@hest.ethz.ch), Institute for Biomechanics, ETH Zurich, Professorships Peter Arbenz (Department of Computer Science) and Ralph Müller (Department of Health Sciences and Technology)
Patrik Christen (patrik.christen@hest.ethz.ch), Institute for Biomechanics, ETH Zurich, Professorships Peter Arbenz (Department of Computer Science) and Ralph Müller (Department of Health Sciences and Technology)