Beam-inside-beam contact: Mechanical simulations of slender medical instruments inside the human body

in Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine (2020), 196

Background and Objective This contribution presents a rapid computational framework to mechanically simulate the insertion of a slender medical instrument in a tubular structure such as an artery, the ... [more ▼]

Background and Objective This contribution presents a rapid computational framework to mechanically simulate the insertion of a slender medical instrument in a tubular structure such as an artery, the cochlea or another slender instrument. Methods Beams are employed to rapidly simulate the mechanical behaviour of the medical instrument and the tubular structure. However, the framework’s novelty is its capability to handle the mechanical contact between an inner beam (representing the medical instrument) embedded in a hollow outer beam (representing the tubular structure). This “beam-inside-beam” contact framework, which forces two beams to remain embedded, is the first of its kind since existing contact frameworks for beams are “beam-to-beam” approaches, i.e. they repel beams from each other. Furthermore, we propose contact kinematics such that not only instruments and tubes with circular cross-sections can be considered, but also those with elliptical cross-sections. This provides flexibility for the optimization of patient-specific instruments. Results The results demonstrate that the framework’s robustness is substantial, because only a few increments per simulation and a few iterations per increment are required, even though large deformations, large rotations and large curvature changes of both the instrument and tubular structure occur. The stability of the framework remains high even if the modulus of the inner tube is thousand times larger than that of the outer tube. A mesh convergence study furthermore exposes that a relatively small number of elements is required to accurately approach the reference solution. Conclusions The framework’s high simulation speed originates from the exploitation of the rigidity of the beams’ cross-sections to quantify the exclusion between the inner and the hollow outer beam. This rigidity limits the accuracy of the framework at the same time, but this is unavoidable since simulation accuracy and simulation speed are two competing interests. Hence, the framework is particularly attractive if simulation speed is preferred over accuracy. [less ▲]

Contact between shear-deformable beams with elliptical cross-sections

in Acta Mechanica (2020), 231

Slender constituents are present in many structures and materials. In associated mechanical models, each slender constituent is often described with a beam. Contact between beams is essential to ... [more ▼]

Slender constituents are present in many structures and materials. In associated mechanical models, each slender constituent is often described with a beam. Contact between beams is essential to incorporate in mechanical models, but associated contact frameworks are only demonstrated to work for beams with circular cross-sections. Only two studies have shown the ability to treat contact between beams with elliptical cross-sections, but those frameworks are limited to point-wise contact, which narrows their applicability. This contribution presents initial results of a framework for shear-deformable beams with elliptical cross-sections if contact occurs along a line or at an area (instead of at a point). This is achieved by integrating a penalty potential over one of the beams’ surfaces. Simo-Reissner Geometrically Exact Beam (GEB) elements are employed to discretise each beam. As the surface of an assembly of such beam elements is discontinuous, a smoothed surface is introduced to formulate the contact kinematics. This enables the treatment of contact for large sliding displacements and substantial deformations. [less ▲]

Non-localized Contact Between Beams with Non-Circular Cross Sections

in Proceedings in Applied Mathematics and Mechanics (2019)

In this contribution, we introduce a contact formulation between beams finite elements with (hyper)elliptical cross sections. The contact scheme allows to model scenarios in which the contact area is ... [more ▼]

In this contribution, we introduce a contact formulation between beams finite elements with (hyper)elliptical cross sections. The contact scheme allows to model scenarios in which the contact area is finite or the contact area occurs along a line. Although some contact schemes are yet able to do this, they require one of the beams to have a circular cross section. Here however, we focus on non-circular cross-sections. Consequently, new projections are required, in which the beam surfaces are used explicitly to formulate contact kinematics. [less ▲]

Large-deformation lattice model for dry-woven fabrics including contact

Speeches/Talks (2016)

Short Presentation on the Quasi-continuum method