A Julia framework for modelling endovascular device interaction
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The use of computational mechanics in biomedical applications presents significant challenges, particularly in scenarios where biological tissues (vascular wall, thrombi or plaque) interact with artificial, wire-like medical devices. Accurately modeling the contact between these entities is complex due to their vastly different mechanical properties and structural conception. This is relevant in medical procedures such as flow diverter deployment in arterial aneurysms, endovascular thrombectomy, and coronary interventions involving stents. Recent advancements have introduced a finite element method (FEM) computational model for simulating the deployment of flow diverters [1, 2]. The model utilizes corotational beam theory to simulate the metallic wires of flow diverters, which becomes highly efficient as compared to traditional modeling approaches. As a continuation of the above work, we present a computational framework for contact between endovascular devices (modelled using corotational beams), vascular wall (modelled using rotation-free shell elements, see [3]) and thrombi/plaque (modelled using hyperelastic tetrahedron elements). Contact between elements is defined by performing master-slave strategy and using a penalty energy function. The implementation is carried out in the Julia programming language, which provides high computational efficiency and scalability for high-performance computing (HPC) environments. REFERENCES [1] M. Aguirre, S. Avril. “An implicit 3D corotational formulation for frictional contact dynamics of beams against rigid surfaces using discrete signed distance fields”. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering 371 (2020): 113275. [2] B. Bisighini, M. Aguirre, B. Pierrat, D. Perrin, S. Avril, “EndoBeams. jl: A Julia finite element package for beam-to-surface contact problems in cardiovascular mechanics”, Advances in Engineering Software 171, 103173, 2022. [3] N. Nama, M. Aguirre, J.D. Humphrey, C. A. Figueroa. "A nonlinear rotation-free shell formulation with prestressing for vascular biomechanics." Scientific reports 10.1 (2020): 17528
