SIMULIA Technology Helps Customers’ Product Design Process
The 2016 Science in the Age of Experience conference united the SIMULIA and BIOVIA user communities, bringing focus on fundamental and applied science and engineering. Virtual Human Modeling (VHM) was very visible at the conference with nine (9) papers covering a broad range of applications. As evidenced by the work presented by our customers, the need for modeling and simulation is becoming more critical within the Life Sciences and other industries.
The following examples illustrate how our customers are leveraging SIMULIA technology for Virtual Human Modeling applications:
Unilife Medical Solutions, Inc.
The medical device industry is highly regulated as patient safety is of paramount importance. Devices must perform as designed from the time of manufacture, through shelf life, and during use. For example, plastics used in medical devices under constant load such as prefilled syringes, are susceptible to creep deformation, and physical testing for creep can be time-consuming. Analysts at Unilife Medical Solutions Inc. used the parallel rheological framework to predict the short- and long-term behavior of polycarbonate components in the Unifill Finesse Integrated Safety Syringe. After successfully calibrating the model against experimental data and performing a four-year shelf life simulation of the syringe, they validated the results against real device data demonstrating a significant reduction of device design time. Read the full paper.
University of Massachusetts Lowell / RWTH Aachen
Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and RWTH Aachen presented their work using multiscale modeling to predict the in vivo behavior of a textile-reinforced tissue engineered heart valve. Traditional cardiac prostheses often need reinforcement to withstand in vivo pressures. Tubular knitted textile reinforcements are sometimes used to stiffen the structure but greatly complicate numerical modeling. In a multiscale modeling approach, individual components of the composite structure are modeled using simple and easy to calibrate material models, while a homogenization technique is used to transfer material properties from lower to higher scales. Using different models for the fiber, knit, textile, and whole valve levels, the team was able to demonstrate the applicability of multiscale modeling for complex biocomposites. Read the full paper.
ASICS
While VHM is critical in the Life Science industry, it is also finding applications in consumer driven industries such as the competitive world of sportswear and athletic equipment. Engineers at ASICS developed a highly detailed model of the human foot to simultaneously improve the performance and comfort of their running shoes. Using an inverse dynamics methodology driven by running measurements from real people, they were able to obtain realistic ankle loading conditions, apply them to the foot-shoe FE models to improve runner stability and relieve pressure. Read the full paper.
Toyobo / MDAC
Footwear design isn’t the only key to running comfort as demonstrated by a team from Toyobo and MDAC. Properly designed clothing pressure can improve exercise performance as well as favorably influence the nervous and circulatory systems. Using a multilayer material model for a T-shirt with a human body model to represent anatomically realistic running movements, the team was able to quantify contact state and pressure changes of sportswear on a human in motion. This methodology is now being used to develop smart clothing capable of monitoring biometric information for athletic and medical applications. Read the full paper.
