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An improved method for finite element mesh generation of geometrically complex structures with application to the skullbase.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Camacho, DL; Hopper, RH; Lin, GM; Myers, BS
Published in: Journal of biomechanics
October 1997

An automated method has been developed to generate finite element meshes of geometrically complex structures from CT images using solely hexahedral elements. This technique improves upon previous voxel-based mesh reconstruction approaches by smoothing the irregular boundaries at model surfaces and material interfaces. Over a range of mesh densities, RMS error in surface Von Mises stress was higher in the unsmoothed circular ring models (0.11-0.24 MPa) than in the smoothed models (0.080-0.15 MPa) at each mesh density. The element-to-element oscillation in surface element stress, as measured by the average second spatial derivative of Von Mises stress along the outer surface of the ring, was higher in the unsmoothed models (11.5-15.0 kPa mm-2) than in the smoothed models (4.0-6.8 kPa mm-2). Similarly, in a human skullbase model, the element-to-element oscillation in surface Von Mises stress was higher in the unsmoothed model (5.52 kPa mm-2) than in the smoothed model (1.83 kPa mm-2). Using this technique, finite element models of complex geometries can be rapidly reconstructed which produce less error at the surface than voxel-based models with discontinuous surfaces.

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Published In

Journal of biomechanics

DOI

EISSN

1873-2380

ISSN

0021-9290

Publication Date

October 1997

Volume

30

Issue

10

Start / End Page

1067 / 1070

Related Subject Headings

  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed
  • Stress, Mechanical
  • Skull
  • Models, Biological
  • Models, Anatomic
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
  • Humans
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Biomechanical Phenomena
  • 4207 Sports science and exercise
 

Citation

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Camacho, D. L., Hopper, R. H., Lin, G. M., & Myers, B. S. (1997). An improved method for finite element mesh generation of geometrically complex structures with application to the skullbase. Journal of Biomechanics, 30(10), 1067–1070. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0021-9290(97)00073-0
Camacho, D. L., R. H. Hopper, G. M. Lin, and B. S. Myers. “An improved method for finite element mesh generation of geometrically complex structures with application to the skullbase.Journal of Biomechanics 30, no. 10 (October 1997): 1067–70. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0021-9290(97)00073-0.
Camacho DL, Hopper RH, Lin GM, Myers BS. An improved method for finite element mesh generation of geometrically complex structures with application to the skullbase. Journal of biomechanics. 1997 Oct;30(10):1067–70.
Camacho, D. L., et al. “An improved method for finite element mesh generation of geometrically complex structures with application to the skullbase.Journal of Biomechanics, vol. 30, no. 10, Oct. 1997, pp. 1067–70. Epmc, doi:10.1016/s0021-9290(97)00073-0.
Camacho DL, Hopper RH, Lin GM, Myers BS. An improved method for finite element mesh generation of geometrically complex structures with application to the skullbase. Journal of biomechanics. 1997 Oct;30(10):1067–1070.
Journal cover image

Published In

Journal of biomechanics

DOI

EISSN

1873-2380

ISSN

0021-9290

Publication Date

October 1997

Volume

30

Issue

10

Start / End Page

1067 / 1070

Related Subject Headings

  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed
  • Stress, Mechanical
  • Skull
  • Models, Biological
  • Models, Anatomic
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
  • Humans
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Biomechanical Phenomena
  • 4207 Sports science and exercise