Segregated Algorithms for the Numerical Simulation of Cardiac Electromechanics in the Left Human Ventricle

We propose and numerically assess three segregated ( partitioned) algorithms for the numerical solution of the coupled electromechanics problem for the left human ventricle. We split the coupled problem into its core mathematical models and we proceed to their numerical approximation. Space and time discretizations of the core problems are carried out by means of the Finite Element Method and Backward Differentiation Formulas, respectively. In our mathematical model, electrophysiology is represented by the monodomain equation while the Holzapfel-Ogden strain energy function is used for the passive characterization of tissue mechanics. A transmurally variable active strain model is used for the active deformation of the fibers of the myocardium to couple the electrophysiology and the mechanics in the framework of the active strain model. In this work, we focus on the numerical strategy to deal with the solution of the coupled model, which is based on novel segregated algorithms that we propose. These also allow using different time discretization schemes for the core submodels, thus leading to the formulation of staggered algorithms, a feature that we systematically exploit to increase the efficiency of the overall computational procedure. By means of numerical tests we show that these staggered algorithms feature (at least) first order of accuracy. We take advantage of the efficiency of the segregated schemes to solve, in a High Performance Computing framework, the cardiac electromechanics problem for the human left ventricle, for both idealized and subject-specific configurations.

Analysis and numerical simulation of viscoelastic flows

Andrea Bonito

Mathematical and numerical aspects of viscoelastic flows are investigated here. Two simplified mathematical models are considered. They are motivated by a splitting algorithm for solving viscoelastic flows with free surfaces. The first model is a simplified Oldroyd-B model. Existence on a fixed time interval is proved in several Banach spaces provided the data are small enough. Short time existence is also proved for arbitrarily large data in Hölder spaces for the time variable. These results are based on the maximal regularity property of the Stokes operator and on the analycity behavior of the corresponding semi-group. A finite element discretization in space is then proposed. Existence of the numerical solution is proved for small data, as well as a priori error estimates, using an implicit function theorem framework. Then, the extension of these results to a stochastic simplified Hookean dumbbells model is discussed. Because of the presence of the Brownian motion, existence in a fixed time interval, provided the data are small enough, is proved only in some of the Banach spaces considered previously. The dumbbells' elongation is split in two parts, one satisfying a standart stochastic differential equation, the other satisfying a partial differential equation with a stochastic source term. A finite element discretization in space is also proposed. Existence of the numerical solution is proved for small data, as well as a priori error estimates. A numerical algorithm for solving viscoelastic flows with free surfaces is also described. This algorithm is based on a splitting method in time and two different meshes are used for the space discretization. Convergence of the numerical model is checked for the pure extensional flow and the filling of a pipe. Then, numerical results are reported for the stretching of a filament and for jet buckling.

EPFL2006

Numerical simulation of free surface flows

Vincent Maronnier, Marco Picasso, Jacques Rappaz

A numerical model is presented for the simulation of complex fluid flows with free surfaces. The unknowns are the velocity and pressure fields in the liquid region, together with a function defining the volume fraction of liquid. Although the mathematical formulation of the model is similar to the volume of fluid (VOF) method, the numerical schemes used to solve the problem are different. A splitting method is used for the time discretization. At each time step, two advection problems and a generalized Stokes problem are to be solved. Two different grids are used for the space discretization. The two advection problems are solved on a fixed, structured grid made out of small rectangular cells, using a forward characteristic method. The generalized Stokes problem is solved using a finite element method on a fixed, unstructured mesh. Numerical results are presented for several test cases: the filling of an S-shaped channel, the filling of a disk with core, the broken dam in a confined domain. (C) 1999 Academic Press.

1999

Simulation of shear-driven flows

Roland Bouffanais

The research work reported in the present dissertation is aimed at the analysis of complex physical phenomena involving instabilities and nonlinearities occurring in fluids through state-of-the-art numerical modeling. Solutions of intricate fluid physics problems are devised in two particularly arduous situations: fluid domains with moving boundaries and the high-Reynolds-number regime dominated by nonlinear convective effects. Shear-driven flows of incompressible Newtonian fluids enclosed in cavities of varying geometries are thoroughly investigated in the two following frameworks: transition with a free surface and confined turbulence. The physical system we consider is made of an incompressible Newtonian fluid filling a bounded, or partially bounded cavity. A series of shear-driven flows are easily generated by setting in motion some part of the container boundary. These driven-cavity flows are not only technologically important, they are of great scientific interest because they display almost all physical fluid phenomena that can possibly occur in incompressible flows, and this in the simplest geometrical settings. Thus corner eddies, secondary flows, longitudinal vortices, complex three-dimensional patterns, chaotic particle motions, nonuniqueness, transition, and turbulence all occur naturally and can be studied in the same geometry. This facilitates the comparison of results from experiments, analysis, and computation over the whole range of Reynolds numbers. The flows under consideration are part of a larger class of confined flows driven by linear or angular momentum gradients. This dissertation reports a detailed study of a novel numerical method developed for the simulation of an unsteady free-surface flow in three-space-dimensions. This method relies on a moving-grid technique to solve the Navier-Stokes equations expressed in the arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) kinematics and discretized by the spectral element method. A comprehensive analysis of the continuous and discretized formulations of the general problem in the ALE frame, with nonlinear, non-homogeneous and unsteady boundary conditions is presented. In this dissertation, we first consider in the internal turbulent flow of a fluid enclosed in a bounded cubical cavity driven by the constant translation of its lid. The solution of this flow relied on large-eddy simulations, which served to improve our physical understanding of this complex flow dynamics. Subsequently, a novel subgrid model based on approximate deconvolution methods coupled with a dynamic mixed scale model was devised. The large-eddy simulation of the lid-driven cubical cavity flow based on this novel subgrid model has shown improvements over traditional subgrid-viscosity type of models. Finally a new interpretation of approximate deconvolution models when used with implicit filtering as a way to approximate the projective grid filter was given. This led to the introduction of the grid filter models. Through the use of a newly-developed method of numerical simulation, in this dissertation we solve unsteady flows with a flat and moving free-surface in the transitional regime. These flows are the incompressible flow of a viscous fluid enclosed in a cylindrical container with an open top surface and driven by the steady rotation of the bottom wall. New flow states are investigated based on the fully three-dimensional solution of the Navier-Stokes equations for these free-surface cylindrical swirling flows, without resorting to any symmetry properties unlike all other results available in the literature. To our knowledge, this study delivers the most general available results for this free-surface problem due to its original mathematical treatment. This second part of the dissertation is a basic research task directed at increasing our understanding of the influence of the presence of a free surface on the intricate transitional flow dynamics of shear-driven flows.

EPFL2007

Simulation of shear-driven flows

Roland Bouffanais

EPFL2007