Finite element methods for the simulation of wave propagation in soft viscoelastic biotissue

Lead Research Organisation: Brunel University London
Department Name: Mathematics

Abstract

Undertake research into finite element methods for the simulation of wave propagation in soft viscoelastic biotissue. The material will be modelled using Voigt and Maxwell type constitutive laws, the spatial discretization may be a continuous or discontinuous Galerkin or spectral finite element method, and the time discretization may be a classical finite difference scheme or a discontinuous or continuous finite element method. The research involves applied mathematics, numerical analysis, biomechanics and scientific computing, and its main aims are:
1. To design and mesh a family of human chest configurations, incorporating muscle, lung, bone, skin, fat, and a moving heart, for the purpose of modelling and simulating shear wave propagation from the areas associated with the coronary arteries to the chest surface.
2. To implement various numerical schemes, drawn from the techniques above, to determine the most suitable methods in terms of the accuracy and speed trade-off. This software will use existing open source resources and bespoke coding as necessary.
This work is part of an ongoing multi-site and interdisciplinary project investigating the feasibility of non-invasive diagnosis of coronary artery disease using computational mathematics.

Publications

10 25 50

Studentship Projects

Project Reference Relationship Related To Start End Student Name
EP/N509437/1 01/10/2016 30/09/2021
1818095 Studentship EP/N509437/1 01/10/2016 31/03/2020 Matthew Elliot-Sands
EP/R512990/1 01/10/2018 30/09/2023
1818095 Studentship EP/R512990/1 01/10/2016 31/03/2020 Matthew Elliot-Sands
 
Description We have managed to find a disturbance using only manufactured sensor data within both 1D and 2D. This could, with more work, be applied in a physical sense to the human thorax and the noise picked-up on the surface.

We still need to extend the models to mimic human tissue, but this should be achieved.
Exploitation Route In the future, our model needs to be extended to more closely mimic a human thorax rather than a 1/2/3 dimensional block.
Sectors Healthcare