Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 13
  • Item
    Computational modelling and simulation of cancer growth and migration within a 3D heterogeneous tissue: The effects of fibre and vascular structure
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2019) Macnamara, Cicely K.; Caiazzo, Alfonso; Ramis-Conde, Ignacio; Chaplain, Mark A.J.
    The term cancer covers a multitude of bodily diseases, broadly categorised by having cells which do not behave normally. Since cancer cells can arise from any type of cell in the body, cancers can grow in or around any tissue or organ making the disease highly complex. Our research is focused on understanding the specific mechanisms that occur in the tumour microenvironment via mathematical and computational modeling. We present a 3D individual-based model which allows one to simulate the behaviour of, and spatio-temporal interactions between, cells, extracellular matrix fibres and blood vessels. Each agent (a single cell, for example) is fully realised within the model and interactions are primarily governed by mechanical forces between elements. However, as well as the mechanical interactions we also consider chemical interactions, for example, by coupling the code to a finite element solver to model the diffusion of oxygen from blood vessels to cells. The current state of the art of the model allows us to simulate tumour growth around an arbitrary blood-vessel network or along the striations of fibrous tissue.
  • Item
    A reduced-order modeling for efficient design study of artificial valve in enlarged ventricular outflow tracts
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2015) Caiazzo, Alfonso; Guibert, Romain; Vignon-Clementel, Irene E.
    A computational approach is proposed for efficient design study of a reducer stent to be percutaneously implanted in enlarged right ventricular outflow tracts (RVOT). The need for such a device is driven by the absence of bovine or artificial valves which could be implanted in these RVOT to replace the absent or incompetent native valve, as is often the case over time after Tetralogy of Fallot repair. Hemodynamics are simulated in the stented RVOT via a reduce order model based on proper orthogonal decomposition (POD), while the artificial valve is modeled as a thin resistive surface. The reduced order model is obtained from the numerical solution on a reference device configuration, then varying the geometrical parameters (diameter) for design purposes. To validate the approach, forces exerted on the valve and on the reducer are monitored, varying with geometrical parameters, and compared with the results of full CFD simulations. Such an approach could also be useful for uncertainty quantification. Device design, percutaneous pulmonary valve replacement, proper orthogonal decomposition (POD), finite element method, blood flow CFD, repaired Tetralogy of Fallot.
  • Item
    Reliable averaging for the primal variable in the Courant FEM and hierarchical error estimators on red-refined meshes
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2016) Carstensen, Carsten; Eigel, Martin
    A hierarchical a posteriori error estimator for the first-order finite element method (FEM) on a red-refined triangular mesh is presented for the 2D Poisson model problem. Reliability and efficiency with some explicit constant is proved for triangulations with inner angles smaller than or equal to π/2 . The error estimator does not rely on any saturation assumption and is valid even in the pre-asymptotic regime on arbitrarily coarse meshes. The evaluation of the estimator is a simple post-processing of the piecewise linear FEM without any extra solve plus a higher-order approximation term. The results also allows the striking observation that arbitrary local averaging of the primal variable leads to a reliable and efficient error estimation. Several numerical experiments illustrate the performance of the proposed a posteriori error estimator for computational benchmarks.
  • Item
    Modelling and simulation of flame cutting for steel plates with solid phases and melting
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2019) Arenas Jaén, Manuel J.; Hömberg, Dietmar; Lasarzik, Robert; Mikkonen, Pertti; Petzold, ThomasFlame cutting, finite element method, heat equation, phase transitions, transport equation
    The goal of this work is to describe in detail a quasi-stationary state model which can be used to deeply understand the distribution of the heat in a steel plate and the changes in the solid phases of the steel and into liquid phase during the flame cutting process. We use a 3D-model similar to previous works from Thiebaud [1] and expand it to consider phases changes, in particular, austenite formation and melting of material. Experimental data is used to validate the model and study its capabilities. Parameters defining the shape of the volumetric heat source and the power density are calibrated to achieve good agreement with temperature measurements. Similarities and differences with other models from literature are discussed.
  • Item
    Modeling, simulation, and optimization of geothermal energy production from hot sedimentary aquifers
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2019) Blank, Laura; Meneses Rioseco, Ernesto; Wilbrandt, Ulrich; Caiazzo, Alfonso
    Geothermal district heating development has been gaining momentum in Europe with numerous deep geothermal installations and projects currently under development. With the increasing density of geothermal wells, questions related to the optimal and sustainable reservoir exploitation become more and more important. A quantitative understanding of the complex thermo-hydraulic interaction between tightly deployed geothermal wells in heterogeneous temperature and permeability fields is key for a maximum sustainable use of geothermal resources. Motivated by the geological settings of the Upper Jurassic aquifer in the Greater Munich region, we develop a computational model based on finite element analysis and gradient-free optimization to simulate groundwater flow and heat transport in hot sedimentary aquifers, and investigate numerically the optimal positioning and spacing of multi-well systems. Based on our numerical simulations, net energy production from deep geothermal reservoirs in sedimentary basins by smart geothermal multi-well arrangements provides significant amounts of energy to meet heat demand in highly urbanized regions. Our results show that taking into account heterogeneous permeability structures and variable reservoir temperature may drastically affect the results in the optimal configuration. We demonstrate that the proposed numerical framework is able to efficiently handle generic geometrical and geologocal configurations, and can be thus flexibly used in the context of multi-variable optimization problems. Hence, this numerical framework can be used to assess the extractable geothermal energy from heterogeneous deep geothermal reservoirs by the optimized deployment of smart multi-well systems.
  • Item
    Functional a posteriori error estimation for stationary reaction-convection-diffusion problems
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2014) Eigel, Martin; Samrowski, Tatiana
    A functional type a posteriori error estimator for the finite element discretisation of the stationary reaction-convection-diffusion equation is derived. In case of dominant convection, the solution for this class of problems typically exhibits boundary layers and shock-front like areas with steep gradients. This renders the accurate numerical solution very demanding and appropriate techniques for the adaptive resolution of regions with large approximation errors are crucial. Functional error estimators as derived here contain no mesh-dependent constants and provide guaranteed error bounds for any conforming approximation. To evaluate the error estimator, a minimisation problem is solved which does not require any Galerkin orthogonality or any specific properties of the employed approximation space. Based on a set of numerical examples, we assess the performance of the new estimator. It is observed that it exhibits a good efficiency also with convection-dominated problem settings.
  • Item
    Error control for the approximation of Allen-Cahn and Cahn-Hilliard equations with a logarithmic potential
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2010) Bartels, Sören; Müller, Rüdiger
    A fully computable upper bound for the finite element approximation error of Allen-Cahn and Cahn-Hilliard equations with logarithmic potentials is derived. Numerical experiments show that for the sharp interface limit this bound is robust past topological changes. Modifications of the abstract results to derive quasi-optimal error estimates in different norms for lowest order finite element methods are discussed and lead to weaker conditions on the residuals under which the conditional error estimates hold.
  • Item
    Challenges for drift-diffusion simulations of semiconductors: A comparative study of different discretization philosophies
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2018) Farrell, Patricio; Peschka, Dirk
    We analyze and benchmark the error and the convergence order of finite difference, finite-element as well as Voronoi finite-volume discretization schemes for the drift-diffusion equations describing charge transport in bulk semiconductor devices. Three common challenges, that can corrupt the precision of numerical solutions, will be discussed: boundary layers at Ohmic contacts, discontinuties in the doping profile, and corner singularities in L-shaped domains. The influence on the order of convergence is assessed for each computational challenge and the different discretization schemes. Additionally, we provide an analysis of the inner boundary layer asymptotics near Ohmic contacts to support our observations.
  • Item
    A Stokes-consistent backflow stabilization for physiological flows
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2014) Bertoglio, Cristobal; Caiazzo, Alfonso
    In computational fluid dynamics incoming flow at open boundaries, or emphbackflow, often yields to unphysical instabilities for high Reynolds numbers. It is widely accepted that this is due to the incoming energy arising from the convection term, which cannot be empha priori controlled when the velocity field is unknown at the boundary. In order to improve the robustness of the numerical simulations, we propose a stabilized formulation based on a penalization of the residual of a weak Stokes problem on the open boundary, whose viscous part controls the incoming convective energy, while the inertial term contributes to the kinetic energy. We also present different strategies for the approximation of the boundary pressure gradient, which is needed for defining the stabilization term. The method has the advantage that it does not require neither artificial modifications or extensions of the computational domain. Moreover, it is consistent with the Womersley solution. We illustrate our approach on numerical examples
  • Item
    Simulation of composite materials by a Network FEM with error control
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2013) Eigel, Martin; Peterseim, Daniel
    A novel Finite Element Method (FEM) for the computational simulation in particle reinforced composite materials with many inclusions is presented. It is based on a specially designed mesh consisting of triangles and channel-like connections between inclusions which form a network structure. The total number of elements and, hence, the number of degrees of freedom are proportional to the number of inclusions. The error of the method is independent of the possibly tiny distances of neighbouring inclusions. We present algorithmic details for the generation of the problem adapted mesh and derive an efficient residual a posteriori error estimator which enables to compute reliable upper and lower error bounds. Several numerical examples illustrate the performance of the method and the error estimator. In particular, it is demonstrated that the (common) assumption of a lattice structure of inclusions can easily lead to incorrect predictions about material properties.