Computation for biomechanical analysis of aortic aneurysms: the importance of computational grid

• Published in: Computer methods in biomechanics and biomedical engineering Vol. 27; no. 8; pp. 994 - 1010
• Main Authors: Alkhatib, Farah, Wittek, Adam, Zwick, Benjamin F, Bourantas, George C, Miller, Karol
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Taylor & Francis 10.06.2024; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Abdominal aortic aneurysm; Aorta; Aortic Aneurysm, Abdominal - diagnostic imaging; Aortic Aneurysm, Abdominal - physiopathology; Aortic aneurysms; Biomechanical engineering; Biomechanical Phenomena; Biomechanics; computational biomechanics; Computational grids; Computer Simulation; Finite Element Analysis; Finite element method; Humans; Models, Cardiovascular; Risk assessment; Shape functions; stress analysis; Stress, Mechanical; finite element analysis; computational biomechanics; Abdominal aortic aneurysm; stress analysis
• ISSN: 1025-5842; 1476-8259
• DOI: 10.1080/10255842.2023.2218521

Aortic wall stress is the most common variable of interest in abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) rupture risk assessment. Computation of such stress has been dominated by finite element analysis. However, the effects of finite element (FE) formulation, element quality, and methods of FE mesh construction on the efficiency, robustness, and accuracy of such computation have attracted little attention. In this study, we fill this knowledge gap by comparing the results of the calculated aortic wall stress for ten AAA patients using tetrahedral and hexahedral meshes when varying the FE formulation (displacement-based and hybrid), FE shape functions, spatial integration scheme, and number of elements through the wall thickness.