Engineering Simulation Solutions for the Healthcare Industry

A better understanding of the human body, and to some extent the modeling of any animal body, provides very precise information that can help improve the well-being or quick healing of individuals facing health issues. There is considerable scientific interest in modeling various parts of the body, and progressively moving to CAE models of the entire human body (e.g. the European project of the Virtual Physiological Human). In addition, this growing complexity and accuracy of physiological modeling brings critical information to biomedical companies, for example on the propagation of drugs in the body or for physical treatment of the skeleton. Virtual human modeling is also more widely considered for surgery planning and training. These very fast progresses during recent years have been made possible thanks to an unparallel breadth of ANSYS solutions.

Cardiovascular System

The progress of high performance computing (HPC), combined with the development of computer-aided design (CAD) import and clean-up and advanced automatic meshing, i.e. engineered scalability, has made it possible to investigate larger and larger sections of the cardiovascular system while taking into account the complex behavior of both blood and the elastic artery wall.

The integrated solution from ANSYS can tackle the complexity of this multiphysics system, where fluid-structure interaction is a major component. A better understanding of cardiovascular flow patterns can provide insight into critical deterioration of the system, or into how to use it to target delivery of treatment to the ideal location.

Respiratory Airway

The respiratory system is another complex geometry - including deformation during both inhalation and exhalation - but modeling is now possible from the mouth and nostrils down to the 5th or even 8th bifurcation of the bronchial pipes. The flow of air, with or without drug particles, can then be studied and visualized in patient-specific situations that could involve impaired lungs. Using virtual lungs and in-depth comprehensive multiphysics software, it is then possible to obtain more insight into the behavior of the respiratory system under various conditions.

Skeleton

The mechanics and the dynamics of the skeleton are not only a wonder from which we enjoy the benefits every day, but also a masterpiece of mechanical engineering. Each part - be it knee, hip, elbow, foot or hand, to mention a few - quickly reveals the complexities and suitability of both its mechanisms and of the materials involved.

The detailed numerical modeling of these structures brings an improved in-depth understanding of the interactions between the bones and the surrounding tissues, leading to better repair in the case of failure, fracture or deterioration (e.g. osteoporosis). This is also an important step to a better design of ever-more-advanced prostheses.

Tissue Modeling

An important part of the body, quite often neglected in past modeling activities, tissue is becoming a more and more important part of modeling to better understand the motion of muscles under predefined activation, for example, or the impact of bone remodeling on tissue's external shape for cosmetic surgery.

Recent progress in advanced tissues modeling together with the improvement of the tight coupling between the various physics involve is opening the door to a detailed and accurate representation of soft tissues.

Physiological Modeling Cases Studies

Pathlines, colored by velocity, in a cerebral vessel with an aneurysm
Courtesy of Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and MMS

Pathlines showing the air flow patterns around the face during inhalation
Geometry: Courtesy of Materialise

Courtesy* of N. Payrard, MATMECA, Bordeaux; Partnership between GIPSA and TIMC laboratories, Grenoble

Courtesy of Yonsei University