The quasidiffusion method for transport problems on unstructured meshes

Science.gov (United States)

Wieselquist, William A.

2009-06-01

In this work, we develop a quasidiffusion (QD) method for solving radiation transport problems on unstructured quadrilateral meshes in 2D Cartesian geometry, for example hanging-node meshes from adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) applications or skewed quadrilateral meshes from radiation hydrodynamics with Lagrangian meshing. The main result of the work is a new low-order quasidiffusion (LOQD) discretization on arbitrary quadrilaterals and a strategy for the efficient iterative solution which uses Krylov methods and incomplete LU factorization (ILU) preconditioning. The LOQD equations are a non-symmetric set of first-order PDEs that in second-order form resembles convection- diffusion with a diffusion tensor, with the difference that the LOQD equations contain extra cross-derivative terms. Our finite volume (FV) discretization of the LOQD equations is compared with three LOQD discretizations from literature. We then present a conservative, short characteristics discretization based on subcell balances (SCSB) that uses polynomial exponential moments to achieve robust behavior in various limits (e.g. small cells and voids) and is second- order accurate in space. A linear representation of the isotropic component of the scattering source based on face-average and cell-average scalar fluxes is also proposed and shown to be effective in some problems. In numerical tests, our QD method with linear scattering source representation shows some advantages compared to other transport methods. We conclude with avenues for future research and note that this QD method may easily be extended to arbitrary meshes in 3D Cartesian geometry.

MPFA algorithm for solving stokes-brinkman equations on quadrilateral grids

KAUST Repository

Iliev, Oleg; Kirsch, Ralf; Lakdawala, Zahra; Printsypar, Galina

2014-01-01

This work is concerned with the development of a robust and accurate numerical method for solving the Stokes-Brinkman system of equations, which describes a free fluid flow coupled with a flow in porous media. Quadrilateral boundary fitted grid

6th International Meshing Roundtable '97

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

White, D.

1997-09-01

The goal of the 6th International Meshing Roundtable is to bring together researchers and developers from industry, academia, and government labs in a stimulating, open environment for the exchange of technical information related to the meshing process. In the pas~ the Roundtable has enjoyed significant participation born each of these groups from a wide variety of countries. The Roundtable will consist of technical presentations from contributed papers and abstracts, two invited speakers, and two invited panels of experts discussing topics related to the development and use of automatic mesh generation tools. In addition, this year we will feature a "Bring Your Best Mesh" competition and poster session to encourage discussion and participation from a wide variety of mesh generation tool users. The schedule and evening social events are designed to provide numerous opportunities for informal dialog. A proceedings will be published by Sandia National Laboratories and distributed at the Roundtable. In addition, papers of exceptionally high quaIity will be submitted to a special issue of the International Journal of Computational Geometry and Applications. Papers and one page abstracts were sought that present original results on the meshing process. Potential topics include but are got limited to: Unstructured triangular and tetrahedral mesh generation Unstructured quadrilateral and hexahedral mesh generation Automated blocking and structured mesh generation Mixed element meshing Surface mesh generation Geometry decomposition and clean-up techniques Geometry modification techniques related to meshing Adaptive mesh refinement and mesh quality control Mesh visualization Special purpose meshing algorithms for particular applications Theoretical or novel ideas with practical potential Technical presentations from industrial researchers.

Finite element transport using Wachspress rational basis functions on quadrilaterals in diffusive regions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Davidson, G.; Palmer, T.S.

2005-01-01

In 1975, Wachspress developed basis functions that can be constructed upon very general zone shapes, including convex polygons and polyhedra, as well as certain zone shapes with curved sides and faces. Additionally, Adams has recently shown that weight functions with certain properties will produce solutions with full-resolution. Wachspress rational functions possess those necessary properties. Here we present methods to construct and integrate Wachspress rational functions on quadrilaterals. We also present an asymptotic analysis of a discontinuous finite element discretization on quadrilaterals, and we present 3 numerical results that confirm the predictions of our analysis. In the first test problem, we showed that Wachspress rational functions could give robust solutions for a strongly heterogeneous problem with both orthogonal and skewed meshes. This strongly heterogenous problem contained thick, diffusive regions, and the discretization provided full-resolution solutions. In the second test problem, we confirmed our asymptotic analysis by demonstrating that the transport solution will converge to the diffusion solution as the problem is made increasingly thick and diffusive. In the third test problem, we demonstrated that bilinear discontinuous based transport and Wachspress rational function based transport converge in the one-mesh limit

Refficientlib: an efficient load-rebalanced adaptive mesh refinement algorithm for high-performance computational physics meshes

OpenAIRE

Baiges Aznar, Joan; Bayona Roa, Camilo Andrés

2017-01-01

No separate or additional fees are collected for access to or distribution of the work. In this paper we present a novel algorithm for adaptive mesh refinement in computational physics meshes in a distributed memory parallel setting. The proposed method is developed for nodally based parallel domain partitions where the nodes of the mesh belong to a single processor, whereas the elements can belong to multiple processors. Some of the main features of the algorithm presented in this paper a...

An Algorithm for Parallel Sn Sweeps on Unstructured Meshes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pautz, Shawn D.

2002-01-01

A new algorithm for performing parallel S n sweeps on unstructured meshes is developed. The algorithm uses a low-complexity list ordering heuristic to determine a sweep ordering on any partitioned mesh. For typical problems and with 'normal' mesh partitionings, nearly linear speedups on up to 126 processors are observed. This is an important and desirable result, since although analyses of structured meshes indicate that parallel sweeps will not scale with normal partitioning approaches, no severe asymptotic degradation in the parallel efficiency is observed with modest (≤100) levels of parallelism. This result is a fundamental step in the development of efficient parallel S n methods

Discontinuous finite element solution of the radiation diffusion equation on arbitrary polygonal meshes and locally adapted quadrilateral grids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ragusa, Jean C.

2015-01-01

In this paper, we propose a piece-wise linear discontinuous (PWLD) finite element discretization of the diffusion equation for arbitrary polygonal meshes. It is based on the standard diffusion form and uses the symmetric interior penalty technique, which yields a symmetric positive definite linear system matrix. A preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithm is employed to solve the linear system. Piece-wise linear approximations also allow a straightforward implementation of local mesh adaptation by allowing unrefined cells to be interpreted as polygons with an increased number of vertices. Several test cases, taken from the literature on the discretization of the radiation diffusion equation, are presented: random, sinusoidal, Shestakov, and Z meshes are used. The last numerical example demonstrates the application of the PWLD discretization to adaptive mesh refinement

MPFA algorithm for solving stokes-brinkman equations on quadrilateral grids

KAUST Repository

Iliev, Oleg

2014-01-01

This work is concerned with the development of a robust and accurate numerical method for solving the Stokes-Brinkman system of equations, which describes a free fluid flow coupled with a flow in porous media. Quadrilateral boundary fitted grid with a sophisticated finite volume method, namely MPFA O-method, is used to discretize the system of equations. Numerical results for two examples are presented, namely, channel flow and flow in a ring with a rolled porous medium. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014.

ZONE: a finite element mesh generator. [In FORTRAN IV for CDC 7600

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Burger, M. J.

1976-05-01

The ZONE computer program is a finite-element mesh generator which produces the nodes and element description of any two-dimensional geometry. The geometry is subdivided into a mesh of quadrilateral and triangular zones arranged sequentially in an ordered march through the geometry. The order of march can be chosen so that the minimum bandwidth is obtained. The node points are defined in terms of the x and y coordinates in a global rectangular coordinate system. The zones generated are quadrilaterals or triangles defined by four node points in a counterclockwise sequence. Node points defining the outside boundary are generated to describe pressure boundary conditions. The mesh that is generated can be used as input to any two-dimensional as well as any axisymmetrical structure program. The output from ZONE is essentially the input file to NAOS, HONDO, and other axisymmetric finite element programs. 14 figures. (RWR)

Conforming to interface structured adaptive mesh refinement: 3D algorithm and implementation

Science.gov (United States)

Nagarajan, Anand; Soghrati, Soheil

2018-03-01

A new non-iterative mesh generation algorithm named conforming to interface structured adaptive mesh refinement (CISAMR) is introduced for creating 3D finite element models of problems with complex geometries. CISAMR transforms a structured mesh composed of tetrahedral elements into a conforming mesh with low element aspect ratios. The construction of the mesh begins with the structured adaptive mesh refinement of elements in the vicinity of material interfaces. An r-adaptivity algorithm is then employed to relocate selected nodes of nonconforming elements, followed by face-swapping a small fraction of them to eliminate tetrahedrons with high aspect ratios. The final conforming mesh is constructed by sub-tetrahedralizing remaining nonconforming elements, as well as tetrahedrons with hanging nodes. In addition to studying the convergence and analyzing element-wise errors in meshes generated using CISAMR, several example problems are presented to show the ability of this method for modeling 3D problems with intricate morphologies.

An Implementation and Parallelization of the Scale Space Meshing Algorithm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julie Digne

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Creating an interpolating mesh from an unorganized set of oriented points is a difficult problemwhich is often overlooked. Most methods focus indeed on building a watertight smoothed meshby defining some function whose zero level set is the surface of the object. However in some casesit is crucial to build a mesh that interpolates the points and does not fill the acquisition holes:either because the data are sparse and trying to fill the holes would create spurious artifactsor because the goal is to explore visually the data exactly as they were acquired without anysmoothing process. In this paper we detail a parallel implementation of the Scale-Space Meshingalgorithm, which builds on the scale-space framework for reconstructing a high precision meshfrom an input oriented point set. This algorithm first smoothes the point set, producing asingularity free shape. It then uses a standard mesh reconstruction technique, the Ball PivotingAlgorithm, to build a mesh from the smoothed point set. The final step consists in back-projecting the mesh built on the smoothed positions onto the original point set. The result ofthis process is an interpolating, hole-preserving surface mesh reconstruction.

A parallel adaptive mesh refinement algorithm for predicting turbulent non-premixed combusting flows

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gao, X.; Groth, C.P.T.

2005-01-01

A parallel adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) algorithm is proposed for predicting turbulent non-premixed combusting flows characteristic of gas turbine engine combustors. The Favre-averaged Navier-Stokes equations governing mixture and species transport for a reactive mixture of thermally perfect gases in two dimensions, the two transport equations of the κ-ψ turbulence model, and the time-averaged species transport equations, are all solved using a fully coupled finite-volume formulation. A flexible block-based hierarchical data structure is used to maintain the connectivity of the solution blocks in the multi-block mesh and facilitate automatic solution-directed mesh adaptation according to physics-based refinement criteria. This AMR approach allows for anisotropic mesh refinement and the block-based data structure readily permits efficient and scalable implementations of the algorithm on multi-processor architectures. Numerical results for turbulent non-premixed diffusion flames, including cold- and hot-flow predictions for a bluff body burner, are described and compared to available experimental data. The numerical results demonstrate the validity and potential of the parallel AMR approach for predicting complex non-premixed turbulent combusting flows. (author)

Mesh-morphing algorithms for specimen-specific finite element modeling.

Science.gov (United States)

Sigal, Ian A; Hardisty, Michael R; Whyne, Cari M

2008-01-01

Despite recent advances in software for meshing specimen-specific geometries, considerable effort is still often required to produce and analyze specimen-specific models suitable for biomechanical analysis through finite element modeling. We hypothesize that it is possible to obtain accurate models by adapting a pre-existing geometry to represent a target specimen using morphing techniques. Here we present two algorithms for morphing, automated wrapping (AW) and manual landmarks (ML), and demonstrate their use to prepare specimen-specific models of caudal rat vertebrae. We evaluate the algorithms by measuring the distance between target and morphed geometries and by comparing response to axial loading simulated with finite element (FE) methods. First a traditional reconstruction process based on microCT was used to obtain two natural specimen-specific FE models. Next, the two morphing algorithms were used to compute mappings from the surface of one model, the source, to the other, the target, and to use this mapping to morph the source mesh to produce a target mesh. The microCT images were then used to assign element-specific material properties. In AW the mappings were obtained by wrapping the source and target surfaces with an auxiliary triangulated surface. In ML, landmarks were manually placed on corresponding locations on the surfaces of both source and target. Both morphing algorithms were successful in reproducing the shape of the target vertebra with a median distance between natural and morphed models of 18.8 and 32.2 microm, respectively, for AW and ML. Whereas AW-morphing produced a surface more closely resembling that of the target, ML guaranteed correspondence of the landmark locations between source and target. Morphing preserved the quality of the mesh producing models suitable for FE simulation. Moreover, there were only minor differences between natural and morphed models in predictions of deformation, strain and stress. We therefore conclude that

Approximation of quadrilaterals by rational quadrilaterals in the plane

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

diagonals and areas can be reduced to solving certain diophantine ... these problems into questions on the existence of infinitely many rational solutions on ... reduced the problem of finding rational quadrilaterals to the problem of finding ... Besicovitch [4] answered this question for the special cases of right-angled triangles.

Object-Oriented Implementation of Adaptive Mesh Refinement Algorithms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

William Y. Crutchfield

1993-01-01

Full Text Available We describe C++ classes that simplify development of adaptive mesh refinement (AMR algorithms. The classes divide into two groups, generic classes that are broadly useful in adaptive algorithms, and application-specific classes that are the basis for our AMR algorithm. We employ two languages, with C++ responsible for the high-level data structures, and Fortran responsible for low-level numerics. The C++ implementation is as fast as the original Fortran implementation. Use of inheritance has allowed us to extend the original AMR algorithm to other problems with greatly reduced development time.

Secure Multicast Routing Algorithm for Wireless Mesh Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rakesh Matam

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Multicast is an indispensable communication technique in wireless mesh network (WMN. Many applications in WMN including multicast TV, audio and video conferencing, and multiplayer social gaming use multicast transmission. On the other hand, security in multicast transmissions is crucial, without which the network services are significantly disrupted. Existing secure routing protocols that address different active attacks are still vulnerable due to subtle nature of flaws in protocol design. Moreover, existing secure routing protocols assume that adversarial nodes cannot share an out-of-band communication channel which rules out the possibility of wormhole attack. In this paper, we propose SEMRAW (SEcure Multicast Routing Algorithm for Wireless mesh network that is resistant against all known active threats including wormhole attack. SEMRAW employs digital signatures to prevent a malicious node from gaining illegitimate access to the message contents. Security of SEMRAW is evaluated using the simulation paradigm approach.

Two New Quadrilateral Elements Based on Strain States

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammad Rezaiee-Pajand

2015-06-01

Full Text Available In this paper, two new quadrilateral elements are formulated to solve plane problems. Low sensitivity to geometric distortion, no parasitic shear error, rotational invariance, and satisfying the Felippa pure bending test are characteristics of these suggested elements. One proposed element is formulated by establishing equilibrium equations for the second-order strain field. The other suggested element is obtained by establishing equilibrium equations only for the linear part of the strain field. The number of the strain states decreases when the conditions among strain states are satisfied. Several numerical tests are used to demonstrate the performance of the proposed elements. Famous elements, which were suggested by other researchers, are used as a means of comparison. It is shown that these novel elements pass the strong patch tests, even for extremely poor meshes, and one of them has an excellent accuracy and fast convergence in other complicated problems.

Mesh Partitioning Algorithm Based on Parallel Finite Element Analysis and Its Actualization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lei Zhang

2013-01-01

Full Text Available In parallel computing based on finite element analysis, domain decomposition is a key technique for its preprocessing. Generally, a domain decomposition of a mesh can be realized through partitioning of a graph which is converted from a finite element mesh. This paper discusses the method for graph partitioning and the way to actualize mesh partitioning. Relevant softwares are introduced, and the data structure and key functions of Metis and ParMetis are introduced. The writing, compiling, and testing of the mesh partitioning interface program based on these key functions are performed. The results indicate some objective law and characteristics to guide the users who use the graph partitioning algorithm and software to write PFEM program, and ideal partitioning effects can be achieved by actualizing mesh partitioning through the program. The interface program can also be used directly by the engineering researchers as a module of the PFEM software. So that it can reduce the application of the threshold of graph partitioning algorithm, improve the calculation efficiency, and promote the application of graph theory and parallel computing.

Parallel Implementation and Scaling of an Adaptive Mesh Discrete Ordinates Algorithm for Transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Howell, L H

2004-01-01

Block-structured adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) uses a mesh structure built up out of locally-uniform rectangular grids. In the BoxLib parallel framework used by the Raptor code, each processor operates on one or more of these grids at each refinement level. The decomposition of the mesh into grids and the distribution of these grids among processors may change every few timesteps as a calculation proceeds. Finer grids use smaller timesteps than coarser grids, requiring additional work to keep the system synchronized and ensure conservation between different refinement levels. In a paper for NECDC 2002 I presented preliminary results on implementation of parallel transport sweeps on the AMR mesh, conjugate gradient acceleration, accuracy of the AMR solution, and scalar speedup of the AMR algorithm compared to a uniform fully-refined mesh. This paper continues with a more in-depth examination of the parallel scaling properties of the scheme, both in single-level and multi-level calculations. Both sweeping and setup costs are considered. The algorithm scales with acceptable performance to several hundred processors. Trends suggest, however, that this is the limit for efficient calculations with traditional transport sweeps, and that modifications to the sweep algorithm will be increasingly needed as job sizes in the thousands of processors become common

Modeling of engine hydrodynamics equations on hybrid unstructured meshes; Modelisation des equations de l`hydrodynamique moteur sur maillage non structure hybride

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Durand, A

1996-10-10

In this thesis, we are interested in the modeling of the compressible Navier-Stokes equations in 2-D moving domains with hybrid meshes. This work, far from being restricted to these equations, could be generalized to any other convection-diffusion system written in conservative vector form. After having described the mathematical equations and elaborated on finite volume (FV) methods, numerical schemes and various meshes, we have selected the Galerkin FV method. This method consists in locating the unknowns at the mesh nodes, then in solving the convective terms by means of VF method - quasi 1-D by edge approximation - and the diffusive terms by means of the finite element (FE) method - P{sub 1} for the triangular and Q{sub 1} for the quadrilateral. The equivalence between the Galerkin FV method and a mass-lumped FE method for temporal terms allows the construction of a new control volume constructed by means of medians. Then, show its interest in comparison to the classical control volume constructed by means of medians. Then first-order in comparison to the classical control volume constructed bu means of medians. Then, the first-order Roe scheme and its extension to second-order by the MUSCL method are detailed Emphasis is laid on two calculations oF the Gradient integral. Numerous numerical tests as well as the comparison with another code validate the approach. In particular, we show that triangular meshes lead to less precise results compared to quadrilateral meshes in certain cases. Afterward, we switch to the dimensionless Navier-Stokes equations and we describe a simplified (Bubnov)-Galerkin FE method in the case of the quadrilaterals. The newly deduced computer code is validated bu the means of a vortex convection-diffusion for different Reynolds numbers. This test shows that only highly viscous flows give rise to equivalent solutions for both meshes. (author)

Optimization of the Compensation of a Meshed MV Network by a Modified Genetic Algorithm

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Hans; Paar, M.; Toman, P.

2007-01-01

The article discusses the utilization of a modified genetic algorithm (GA) for the optimization of the shunt compensation in meshed and radial MV distribution networks. The algorithm looks for minimum costs of the network power losses and minimum capital and operating costs of applied capacitors......, all of this under limitations specified by a multicriteria penalization function. The parallel evolution branches in the GA are used for the purpose of the optimization accelaration. The application of this GA has been implemented in Matlab. The evaluation part of the GA implementation is based...... on the steady-state analysis using a linear one-line diagram model of a power network. The results of steady-state solutions are compared with the results from the DIgSILENT PowerFactory program. Its practical applicability is demonstrated on examples of 22 kV and meshed overhead distribution networks....

Data-Parallel Mesh Connected Components Labeling and Analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Harrison, Cyrus; Childs, Hank; Gaither, Kelly

2011-04-10

We present a data-parallel algorithm for identifying and labeling the connected sub-meshes within a domain-decomposed 3D mesh. The identification task is challenging in a distributed-memory parallel setting because connectivity is transitive and the cells composing each sub-mesh may span many or all processors. Our algorithm employs a multi-stage application of the Union-find algorithm and a spatial partitioning scheme to efficiently merge information across processors and produce a global labeling of connected sub-meshes. Marking each vertex with its corresponding sub-mesh label allows us to isolate mesh features based on topology, enabling new analysis capabilities. We briefly discuss two specific applications of the algorithm and present results from a weak scaling study. We demonstrate the algorithm at concurrency levels up to 2197 cores and analyze meshes containing up to 68 billion cells.

An Approach to Quad Meshing Based On Cross Valued Maps and the Ginzburg-Landau Theory

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Viertel, Ryan [Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (United States). Dept. of Mathematics; Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Osting, Braxton [Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (United States). Dept. of Mathematics

2017-08-01

A generalization of vector fields, referred to as N-direction fields or cross fields when N=4, has been recently introduced and studied for geometry processing, with applications in quadrilateral (quad) meshing, texture mapping, and parameterization. We make the observation that cross field design for two-dimensional quad meshing is related to the well-known Ginzburg-Landau problem from mathematical physics. This identification yields a variety of theoretical tools for efficiently computing boundary-aligned quad meshes, with provable guarantees on the resulting mesh, for example, the number of mesh defects and bounds on the defect locations. The procedure for generating the quad mesh is to (i) find a complex-valued "representation" field that minimizes the Dirichlet energy subject to a boundary constraint, (ii) convert the representation field into a boundary-aligned, smooth cross field, (iii) use separatrices of the cross field to partition the domain into four sided regions, and (iv) mesh each of these four-sided regions using standard techniques. Under certain assumptions on the geometry of the domain, we prove that this procedure can be used to produce a cross field whose separatrices partition the domain into four sided regions. To solve the energy minimization problem for the representation field, we use an extension of the Merriman-Bence-Osher (MBO) threshold dynamics method, originally conceived as an algorithm to simulate motion by mean curvature, to minimize the Ginzburg-Landau energy for the optimal representation field. Lastly, we demonstrate the method on a variety of test domains.

Documentation for MeshKit - Reactor Geometry (&mesh) Generator

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jain, Rajeev [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Mahadevan, Vijay [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

2015-09-30

This report gives documentation for using MeshKit’s Reactor Geometry (and mesh) Generator (RGG) GUI and also briefly documents other algorithms and tools available in MeshKit. RGG is a program designed to aid in modeling and meshing of complex/large hexagonal and rectilinear reactor cores. RGG uses Argonne’s SIGMA interfaces, Qt and VTK to produce an intuitive user interface. By integrating a 3D view of the reactor with the meshing tools and combining them into one user interface, RGG streamlines the task of preparing a simulation mesh and enables real-time feedback that reduces accidental scripting mistakes that could waste hours of meshing. RGG interfaces with MeshKit tools to consolidate the meshing process, meaning that going from model to mesh is as easy as a button click. This report is designed to explain RGG v 2.0 interface and provide users with the knowledge and skills to pilot RGG successfully. Brief documentation of MeshKit source code, tools and other algorithms available are also presented for developers to extend and add new algorithms to MeshKit. RGG tools work in serial and parallel and have been used to model complex reactor core models consisting of conical pins, load pads, several thousands of axially varying material properties of instrumentation pins and other interstices meshes.

Mapping method for generating three-dimensional meshes: past and present

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cook, W.A.; Oakes, W.R.

1982-01-01

Two transformations are derived in this paper. One is a mapping of a unit square onto a surve and the other is a mapping of a unit cube onto a three-dimensional region. Two meshing computer programs are then discussed that use these mappings. The first is INGEN, which has been used to calculate three-dimensional meshes for approximately 15 years. This meshing program uses an index scheme to number boundaries, surfaces, and regions. With such an index scheme, it is possible to control nodal points, elements, and boundary conditions. The second is ESCHER, a meshing program now being developed. Two primary considerations governing development of ESCHER are that meshes graded using quadrilaterals are required and that edge-line geometry defined by Computer-Aided Design/Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) systems will be a major source of geometry definition. This program separates the processes of nodal-point connectivity generation, computation of nodal-point mapping space coordinates, and mapping of nodal points into model space

Z3 -vertex magic total labeling and Z3 -edge magic total labelingfor the extended duplicate graph of quadrilateral snake

Science.gov (United States)

Indira, P.; Selvam, B.; Thirusangu, K.

2018-04-01

Based on the works of Kotzig, Rosa and MacDougall et.al., we present algorithms and prove the existence of Z3-vertex magic total labeling and Z3-edge magic total labeling for the extended duplicate graph of quadrilateral snake.

Algorithm for protecting light-trees in survivable mesh wavelength-division-multiplexing networks

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Hongbin; Li, Lemin; Yu, Hongfang

2006-12-01

Wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) technology is expected to facilitate bandwidth-intensive multicast applications such as high-definition television. A single fiber cut in a WDM mesh network, however, can disrupt the dissemination of information to several destinations on a light-tree based multicast session. Thus it is imperative to protect multicast sessions by reserving redundant resources. We propose a novel and efficient algorithm for protecting light-trees in survivable WDM mesh networks. The algorithm is called segment-based protection with sister node first (SSNF), whose basic idea is to protect a light-tree using a set of backup segments with a higher priority to protect the segments from a branch point to its children (sister nodes). The SSNF algorithm differs from the segment protection scheme proposed in the literature in how the segments are identified and protected. Our objective is to minimize the network resources used for protecting each primary light-tree such that the blocking probability can be minimized. To verify the effectiveness of the SSNF algorithm, we conduct extensive simulation experiments. The simulation results demonstrate that the SSNF algorithm outperforms existing algorithms for the same problem.

Some efficient Lagrangian mesh finite elements encoded in ZEPHYR for two dimensional transport calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mordant, Maurice.

1981-04-01

To solve a multigroup stationary neutron transport equation in two-dimensional geometries (X-Y), (R-O) or (R-Z) generally on uses discrete ordinates and rectangular meshes. The way to do it is then well known, well documented and somewhat obvious. If one needs to treat awkward geometries or distorted meshes, things are not so easy and the way to do it is no longer straightforward. We have studied this problem at Limeil Nuclear Center and as an alternative to Monte Carlo methods and code we have implemented in ZEPHYR code at least two efficient finite element solutions for Lagrangian meshes involving any kind of triangles and quadrilaterals

FEATURE MATCHING OF HISTORICAL IMAGES BASED ON GEOMETRY OF QUADRILATERALS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. Maiwald

2018-05-01

Full Text Available This contribution shows an approach to match historical images from the photo library of the Saxon State and University Library Dresden (SLUB in the context of a historical three-dimensional city model of Dresden. In comparison to recent images, historical photography provides diverse factors which make an automatical image analysis (feature detection, feature matching and relative orientation of images difficult. Due to e.g. film grain, dust particles or the digitalization process, historical images are often covered by noise interfering with the image signal needed for a robust feature matching. The presented approach uses quadrilaterals in image space as these are commonly available in man-made structures and façade images (windows, stones, claddings. It is explained how to generally detect quadrilaterals in images. Consequently, the properties of the quadrilaterals as well as the relationship to neighbouring quadrilaterals are used for the description and matching of feature points. The results show that most of the matches are robust and correct but still small in numbers.

Performance Evaluation of Various STL File Mesh Refining Algorithms Applied for FDM-RP Process

Science.gov (United States)

Ledalla, Siva Rama Krishna; Tirupathi, Balaji; Sriram, Venkatesh

2018-06-01

Layered manufacturing machines use the stereolithography (STL) file to build parts. When a curved surface is converted from a computer aided design (CAD) file to STL, it results in a geometrical distortion and chordal error. Parts manufactured with this file, might not satisfy geometric dimensioning and tolerance requirements due to approximated geometry. Current algorithms built in CAD packages have export options to globally reduce this distortion, which leads to an increase in the file size and pre-processing time. In this work, different mesh subdivision algorithms are applied on STL file of a complex geometric features using MeshLab software. The mesh subdivision algorithms considered in this work are modified butterfly subdivision technique, loops sub division technique and general triangular midpoint sub division technique. A comparative study is made with respect to volume and the build time using the above techniques. It is found that triangular midpoint sub division algorithm is more suitable for the geometry under consideration. Only the wheel cap part is then manufactured on Stratasys MOJO FDM machine. The surface roughness of the part is measured on Talysurf surface roughness tester.

Parallel CFD Algorithms for Aerodynamical Flow Solvers on Unstructured Meshes. Parts 1 and 2

Science.gov (United States)

Barth, Timothy J.; Kwak, Dochan (Technical Monitor)

1995-01-01

The Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development (AGARD) has requested my participation in the lecture series entitled Parallel Computing in Computational Fluid Dynamics to be held at the von Karman Institute in Brussels, Belgium on May 15-19, 1995. In addition, a request has been made from the US Coordinator for AGARD at the Pentagon for NASA Ames to hold a repetition of the lecture series on October 16-20, 1995. I have been asked to be a local coordinator for the Ames event. All AGARD lecture series events have attendance limited to NATO allied countries. A brief of the lecture series is provided in the attached enclosure. Specifically, I have been asked to give two lectures of approximately 75 minutes each on the subject of parallel solution techniques for the fluid flow equations on unstructured meshes. The title of my lectures is "Parallel CFD Algorithms for Aerodynamical Flow Solvers on Unstructured Meshes" (Parts I-II). The contents of these lectures will be largely review in nature and will draw upon previously published work in this area. Topics of my lectures will include: (1) Mesh partitioning algorithms. Recursive techniques based on coordinate bisection, Cuthill-McKee level structures, and spectral bisection. (2) Newton's method for large scale CFD problems. Size and complexity estimates for Newton's method, modifications for insuring global convergence. (3) Techniques for constructing the Jacobian matrix. Analytic and numerical techniques for Jacobian matrix-vector products, constructing the transposed matrix, extensions to optimization and homotopy theories. (4) Iterative solution algorithms. Practical experience with GIVIRES and BICG-STAB matrix solvers. (5) Parallel matrix preconditioning. Incomplete Lower-Upper (ILU) factorization, domain-decomposed ILU, approximate Schur complement strategies.

Fault diagnosis for wind turbine planetary ring gear via a meshing resonance based filtering algorithm.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Tianyang; Chu, Fulei; Han, Qinkai

2017-03-01

Identifying the differences between the spectra or envelope spectra of a faulty signal and a healthy baseline signal is an efficient planetary gearbox local fault detection strategy. However, causes other than local faults can also generate the characteristic frequency of a ring gear fault; this may further affect the detection of a local fault. To address this issue, a new filtering algorithm based on the meshing resonance phenomenon is proposed. In detail, the raw signal is first decomposed into different frequency bands and levels. Then, a new meshing index and an MRgram are constructed to determine which bands belong to the meshing resonance frequency band. Furthermore, an optimal filter band is selected from this MRgram. Finally, the ring gear fault can be detected according to the envelope spectrum of the band-pass filtering result. Copyright © 2016 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Surface meshing with curvature convergence

KAUST Repository

Li, Huibin; Zeng, Wei; Morvan, Jean-Marie; Chen, Liming; Gu, Xianfengdavid

2014-01-01

Surface meshing plays a fundamental role in graphics and visualization. Many geometric processing tasks involve solving geometric PDEs on meshes. The numerical stability, convergence rates and approximation errors are largely determined by the mesh qualities. In practice, Delaunay refinement algorithms offer satisfactory solutions to high quality mesh generations. The theoretical proofs for volume based and surface based Delaunay refinement algorithms have been established, but those for conformal parameterization based ones remain wide open. This work focuses on the curvature measure convergence for the conformal parameterization based Delaunay refinement algorithms. Given a metric surface, the proposed approach triangulates its conformal uniformization domain by the planar Delaunay refinement algorithms, and produces a high quality mesh. We give explicit estimates for the Hausdorff distance, the normal deviation, and the differences in curvature measures between the surface and the mesh. In contrast to the conventional results based on volumetric Delaunay refinement, our stronger estimates are independent of the mesh structure and directly guarantee the convergence of curvature measures. Meanwhile, our result on Gaussian curvature measure is intrinsic to the Riemannian metric and independent of the embedding. In practice, our meshing algorithm is much easier to implement and much more efficient. The experimental results verified our theoretical results and demonstrated the efficiency of the meshing algorithm. © 2014 IEEE.

Surface meshing with curvature convergence

KAUST Repository

Li, Huibin

2014-06-01

Surface meshing plays a fundamental role in graphics and visualization. Many geometric processing tasks involve solving geometric PDEs on meshes. The numerical stability, convergence rates and approximation errors are largely determined by the mesh qualities. In practice, Delaunay refinement algorithms offer satisfactory solutions to high quality mesh generations. The theoretical proofs for volume based and surface based Delaunay refinement algorithms have been established, but those for conformal parameterization based ones remain wide open. This work focuses on the curvature measure convergence for the conformal parameterization based Delaunay refinement algorithms. Given a metric surface, the proposed approach triangulates its conformal uniformization domain by the planar Delaunay refinement algorithms, and produces a high quality mesh. We give explicit estimates for the Hausdorff distance, the normal deviation, and the differences in curvature measures between the surface and the mesh. In contrast to the conventional results based on volumetric Delaunay refinement, our stronger estimates are independent of the mesh structure and directly guarantee the convergence of curvature measures. Meanwhile, our result on Gaussian curvature measure is intrinsic to the Riemannian metric and independent of the embedding. In practice, our meshing algorithm is much easier to implement and much more efficient. The experimental results verified our theoretical results and demonstrated the efficiency of the meshing algorithm. © 2014 IEEE.

Wavelength converter placement for different RWA algorithms in wavelength-routed all-optical networks

Science.gov (United States)

Chu, Xiaowen; Li, Bo; Chlamtac, Imrich

2002-07-01

Sparse wavelength conversion and appropriate routing and wavelength assignment (RWA) algorithms are the two key factors in improving the blocking performance in wavelength-routed all-optical networks. It has been shown that the optimal placement of a limited number of wavelength converters in an arbitrary mesh network is an NP complete problem. There have been various heuristic algorithms proposed in the literature, in which most of them assume that a static routing and random wavelength assignment RWA algorithm is employed. However, the existing work shows that fixed-alternate routing and dynamic routing RWA algorithms can achieve much better blocking performance. Our study in this paper further demonstrates that the wavelength converter placement and RWA algorithms are closely related in the sense that a well designed wavelength converter placement mechanism for a particular RWA algorithm might not work well with a different RWA algorithm. Therefore, the wavelength converter placement and the RWA have to be considered jointly. The objective of this paper is to investigate the wavelength converter placement problem under fixed-alternate routing algorithm and least-loaded routing algorithm. Under the fixed-alternate routing algorithm, we propose a heuristic algorithm called Minimum Blocking Probability First (MBPF) algorithm for wavelength converter placement. Under the least-loaded routing algorithm, we propose a heuristic converter placement algorithm called Weighted Maximum Segment Length (WMSL) algorithm. The objective of the converter placement algorithm is to minimize the overall blocking probability. Extensive simulation studies have been carried out over three typical mesh networks, including the 14-node NSFNET, 19-node EON and 38-node CTNET. We observe that the proposed algorithms not only outperform existing wavelength converter placement algorithms by a large margin, but they also can achieve almost the same performance comparing with full wavelength

Automatic mesh refinement and parallel load balancing for Fokker-Planck-DSMC algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Küchlin, Stephan; Jenny, Patrick

2018-06-01

Recently, a parallel Fokker-Planck-DSMC algorithm for rarefied gas flow simulation in complex domains at all Knudsen numbers was developed by the authors. Fokker-Planck-DSMC (FP-DSMC) is an augmentation of the classical DSMC algorithm, which mitigates the near-continuum deficiencies in terms of computational cost of pure DSMC. At each time step, based on a local Knudsen number criterion, the discrete DSMC collision operator is dynamically switched to the Fokker-Planck operator, which is based on the integration of continuous stochastic processes in time, and has fixed computational cost per particle, rather than per collision. In this contribution, we present an extension of the previous implementation with automatic local mesh refinement and parallel load-balancing. In particular, we show how the properties of discrete approximations to space-filling curves enable an efficient implementation. Exemplary numerical studies highlight the capabilities of the new code.

Analysis of the Misconceptions of 7th Grade Students on Polygons and Specific Quadrilaterals

Science.gov (United States)

Ozkan, Mustafa; Bal, Ayten Pinar

2017-01-01

Purpose: This study will find out student misconceptions about geometrical figures, particularly polygons and quadrilaterals. Thus, it will offer insights into teaching these concepts. The objective of this study, the question of "What are the misconceptions of seventh grade students on polygons and quadrilaterals?" constitutes the…

Study and obtention of exact, and approximation, algorithms and heuristics for a mesh partitioning problem under memory constraints

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morais, Sebastien

2016-01-01

In many scientific areas, the size and the complexity of numerical simulations lead to make intensive use of massively parallel runs on High Performance Computing (HPC) architectures. Such computers consist in a set of processing units (PU) where memory is distributed. Distribution of simulation data is therefore crucial: it has to minimize the computation time of the simulation while ensuring that the data allocated to every PU can be locally stored in memory. For most of the numerical simulations, the physical and numerical data are based on a mesh. The computations are then performed at the cell level (for example within triangles and quadrilaterals in 2D, or within tetrahedrons and hexahedrons in 3D). More specifically, computing and memory cost can be associated to each cell. In our context, where the mathematical methods used are finite elements or finite volumes, the realization of the computations associated with a cell may require information carried by neighboring cells. The standard implementation relies to locally store useful data of this neighborhood on the PU, even if cells of this neighborhood are not locally computed. Such non computed but stored cells are called ghost cells, and can have a significant impact on the memory consumption of a PU. The problem to solve is thus not only to partition a mesh on several parts by affecting each cell to one and only one part while minimizing the computational load assigned to each part. It is also necessary to keep into account that the memory load of both the cells where the computations are performed and their neighbors has to fit into PU memory. This leads to partition the computations while the mesh is distributed with overlaps. Explicitly taking these data overlaps into account is the problem that we propose to study. (author) [fr

Cache-Oblivious Mesh Layouts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoon, S; Lindstrom, P; Pascucci, V; Manocha, D

2005-01-01

We present a novel method for computing cache-oblivious layouts of large meshes that improve the performance of interactive visualization and geometric processing algorithms. Given that the mesh is accessed in a reasonably coherent manner, we assume no particular data access patterns or cache parameters of the memory hierarchy involved in the computation. Furthermore, our formulation extends directly to computing layouts of multi-resolution and bounding volume hierarchies of large meshes. We develop a simple and practical cache-oblivious metric for estimating cache misses. Computing a coherent mesh layout is reduced to a combinatorial optimization problem. We designed and implemented an out-of-core multilevel minimization algorithm and tested its performance on unstructured meshes composed of tens to hundreds of millions of triangles. Our layouts can significantly reduce the number of cache misses. We have observed 2-20 times speedups in view-dependent rendering, collision detection, and isocontour extraction without any modification of the algorithms or runtime applications

Converting skeletal structures to quad dominant meshes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bærentzen, Jakob Andreas; Misztal, Marek Krzysztof; Welnicka, Katarzyna

2012-01-01

We propose the Skeleton to Quad-dominant polygonal Mesh algorithm (SQM), which converts skeletal structures to meshes composed entirely of polar and annular regions. Both types of regions have a regular structure where all faces are quads except for a single ring of triangles at the center of each...

Volume Decomposition and Feature Recognition for Hexahedral Mesh Generation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

GADH,RAJIT; LU,YONG; TAUTGES,TIMOTHY J.

1999-09-27

Considerable progress has been made on automatic hexahedral mesh generation in recent years. Several automatic meshing algorithms have proven to be very reliable on certain classes of geometry. While it is always worth pursuing general algorithms viable on more general geometry, a combination of the well-established algorithms is ready to take on classes of complicated geometry. By partitioning the entire geometry into meshable pieces matched with appropriate meshing algorithm the original geometry becomes meshable and may achieve better mesh quality. Each meshable portion is recognized as a meshing feature. This paper, which is a part of the feature based meshing methodology, presents the work on shape recognition and volume decomposition to automatically decompose a CAD model into meshable volumes. There are four phases in this approach: (1) Feature Determination to extinct decomposition features, (2) Cutting Surfaces Generation to form the ''tailored'' cutting surfaces, (3) Body Decomposition to get the imprinted volumes; and (4) Meshing Algorithm Assignment to match volumes decomposed with appropriate meshing algorithms. The feature determination procedure is based on the CLoop feature recognition algorithm that is extended to be more general. Results are demonstrated over several parts with complicated topology and geometry.

A finite element method with overlapping meshes for free-boundary axisymmetric plasma equilibria in realistic geometries

Science.gov (United States)

Heumann, Holger; Rapetti, Francesca

2017-04-01

Existing finite element implementations for the computation of free-boundary axisymmetric plasma equilibria approximate the unknown poloidal flux function by standard lowest order continuous finite elements with discontinuous gradients. As a consequence, the location of critical points of the poloidal flux, that are of paramount importance in tokamak engineering, is constrained to nodes of the mesh leading to undesired jumps in transient problems. Moreover, recent numerical results for the self-consistent coupling of equilibrium with resistive diffusion and transport suggest the necessity of higher regularity when approximating the flux map. In this work we propose a mortar element method that employs two overlapping meshes. One mesh with Cartesian quadrilaterals covers the vacuum chamber domain accessible by the plasma and one mesh with triangles discretizes the region outside. The two meshes overlap in a narrow region. This approach gives the flexibility to achieve easily and at low cost higher order regularity for the approximation of the flux function in the domain covered by the plasma, while preserving accurate meshing of the geometric details outside this region. The continuity of the numerical solution in the region of overlap is weakly enforced by a mortar-like mapping.

A multipoint flux mixed finite element method on distorted quadrilaterals and hexahedra

KAUST Repository

Wheeler, Mary

2011-11-06

In this paper, we develop a new mixed finite element method for elliptic problems on general quadrilateral and hexahedral grids that reduces to a cell-centered finite difference scheme. A special non-symmetric quadrature rule is employed that yields a positive definite cell-centered system for the pressure by eliminating local velocities. The method is shown to be accurate on highly distorted rough quadrilateral and hexahedral grids, including hexahedra with non-planar faces. Theoretical and numerical results indicate first-order convergence for the pressure and face fluxes. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.

Approximating second-order vector differential operators on distorted meshes in two space dimensions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hermeline, F.

2008-01-01

A new finite volume method is presented for approximating second-order vector differential operators in two space dimensions. This method allows distorted triangle or quadrilateral meshes to be used without the numerical results being too much altered. The matrices that need to be inverted are symmetric positive definite therefore, the most powerful linear solvers can be applied. The method has been tested on a few second-order vector partial differential equations coming from elasticity and fluids mechanics areas. These numerical experiments show that it is second-order accurate and locking-free. (authors)

Resolution of the steady state transport equation for Lagrangian geometry with cylindrical symmetry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Samba, G.

1983-05-01

The purpose of this work is to solve the steady state transport equation for (r, z) geometries given by hydrodynamics calculations. The discontinuous finite element method for the space variables (r, z) provides a stable scheme which satisfies the particle balance equation. We are able to sweep cells for each direction over the mesh to have an explicit scheme. The graph theory provides a very efficient algorithm to compute this ordering array. Previously, we must divide all the quadrilaterals into two triangles to get only convex cells. Thus, we get a fast, vectorized calculation which gives a good accuracy on very distorted meshes [fr

Exploring Turkish Mathematics Teachers' Content Knowledge of Quadrilaterals

Science.gov (United States)

Butuner, Suphi Onder; Filiz, Mehmet

2017-01-01

The aim of this research was to examine mathematics teachers' performances in defining special types of quadrilaterals, identifying their family and hierarchically classifying them. In this vein, 33 of 58 primary school mathematics teachers working in the province of Yozgat, Turkey were voluntarily recruited for this survey, and they were asked to…

Obtuse triangle suppression in anisotropic meshes

KAUST Repository

Sun, Feng; Choi, Yi King; Wang, Wen Ping; Yan, Dongming; Liu, Yang; Lé vy, Bruno L.

2011-01-01

Anisotropic triangle meshes are used for efficient approximation of surfaces and flow data in finite element analysis, and in these applications it is desirable to have as few obtuse triangles as possible to reduce the discretization error. We present a variational approach to suppressing obtuse triangles in anisotropic meshes. Specifically, we introduce a hexagonal Minkowski metric, which is sensitive to triangle orientation, to give a new formulation of the centroidal Voronoi tessellation (CVT) method. Furthermore, we prove several relevant properties of the CVT method with the newly introduced metric. Experiments show that our algorithm produces anisotropic meshes with much fewer obtuse triangles than using existing methods while maintaining mesh anisotropy. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Obtuse triangle suppression in anisotropic meshes

KAUST Repository

Sun, Feng

2011-12-01

Anisotropic triangle meshes are used for efficient approximation of surfaces and flow data in finite element analysis, and in these applications it is desirable to have as few obtuse triangles as possible to reduce the discretization error. We present a variational approach to suppressing obtuse triangles in anisotropic meshes. Specifically, we introduce a hexagonal Minkowski metric, which is sensitive to triangle orientation, to give a new formulation of the centroidal Voronoi tessellation (CVT) method. Furthermore, we prove several relevant properties of the CVT method with the newly introduced metric. Experiments show that our algorithm produces anisotropic meshes with much fewer obtuse triangles than using existing methods while maintaining mesh anisotropy. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Validation of a non-uniform meshing algorithm for the 3D-FDTD method by means of a two-wire crosstalk experimental set-up

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raúl Esteban Jiménez-Mejía

2015-06-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an algorithm used to automatically mesh a 3D computational domain in order to solve electromagnetic interaction scenarios by means of the Finite-Difference Time-Domain -FDTD-  Method. The proposed algorithm has been formulated in a general mathematical form, where convenient spacing functions can be defined for the problem space discretization, allowing the inclusion of small sized objects in the FDTD method and the calculation of detailed variations of the electromagnetic field at specified regions of the computation domain. The results obtained by using the FDTD method with the proposed algorithm have been contrasted not only with a typical uniform mesh algorithm, but also with experimental measurements for a two-wire crosstalk set-up, leading to excellent agreement between theoretical and experimental waveforms. A discussion about the advantages of the non-uniform mesh over the uniform one is also presented.

Isometric deformations of planar quadrilaterals with constant index

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zaputryaeva, E S

2014-01-01

We consider isometric deformations (motions) of polygons (so-called carpenter's rule problem) in the case of self-intersecting polygons with the additional condition that the index of the polygon is preserved by the motion. We provide general information about isometric deformations of planar polygons and give a complete solution of the carpenter's problem for quadrilaterals. Bibliography: 17 titles

Influence of mesh density, cortical thickness and material properties on human rib fracture prediction.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Zuoping; Kindig, Matthew W; Subit, Damien; Kent, Richard W

2010-11-01

The purpose of this paper was to investigate the sensitivity of the structural responses and bone fractures of the ribs to mesh density, cortical thickness, and material properties so as to provide guidelines for the development of finite element (FE) thorax models used in impact biomechanics. Subject-specific FE models of the second, fourth, sixth and tenth ribs were developed to reproduce dynamic failure experiments. Sensitivity studies were then conducted to quantify the effects of variations in mesh density, cortical thickness, and material parameters on the model-predicted reaction force-displacement relationship, cortical strains, and bone fracture locations for all four ribs. Overall, it was demonstrated that rib FE models consisting of 2000-3000 trabecular hexahedral elements (weighted element length 2-3mm) and associated quadrilateral cortical shell elements with variable thickness more closely predicted the rib structural responses and bone fracture force-failure displacement relationships observed in the experiments (except the fracture locations), compared to models with constant cortical thickness. Further increases in mesh density increased computational cost but did not markedly improve model predictions. A ±30% change in the major material parameters of cortical bone lead to a -16.7 to 33.3% change in fracture displacement and -22.5 to +19.1% change in the fracture force. The results in this study suggest that human rib structural responses can be modeled in an accurate and computationally efficient way using (a) a coarse mesh of 2000-3000 solid elements, (b) cortical shells elements with variable thickness distribution and (c) a rate-dependent elastic-plastic material model. Copyright © 2010 IPEM. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Finite element meshing approached as a global minimization process

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

WITKOWSKI,WALTER R.; JUNG,JOSEPH; DOHRMANN,CLARK R.; LEUNG,VITUS J.

2000-03-01

The ability to generate a suitable finite element mesh in an automatic fashion is becoming the key to being able to automate the entire engineering analysis process. However, placing an all-hexahedron mesh in a general three-dimensional body continues to be an elusive goal. The approach investigated in this research is fundamentally different from any other that is known of by the authors. A physical analogy viewpoint is used to formulate the actual meshing problem which constructs a global mathematical description of the problem. The analogy used was that of minimizing the electrical potential of a system charged particles within a charged domain. The particles in the presented analogy represent duals to mesh elements (i.e., quads or hexes). Particle movement is governed by a mathematical functional which accounts for inter-particles repulsive, attractive and alignment forces. This functional is minimized to find the optimal location and orientation of each particle. After the particles are connected a mesh can be easily resolved. The mathematical description for this problem is as easy to formulate in three-dimensions as it is in two- or one-dimensions. The meshing algorithm was developed within CoMeT. It can solve the two-dimensional meshing problem for convex and concave geometries in a purely automated fashion. Investigation of the robustness of the technique has shown a success rate of approximately 99% for the two-dimensional geometries tested. Run times to mesh a 100 element complex geometry were typically in the 10 minute range. Efficiency of the technique is still an issue that needs to be addressed. Performance is an issue that is critical for most engineers generating meshes. It was not for this project. The primary focus of this work was to investigate and evaluate a meshing algorithm/philosophy with efficiency issues being secondary. The algorithm was also extended to mesh three-dimensional geometries. Unfortunately, only simple geometries were tested

Numerical Tools for Multicomponent, Multiphase, Reactive Processes: Flow of CO{sub 2} in Porous Medium

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Khattri, Sanjay Kumar

2006-07-01

. Chapter 4 presents Control Volume discretization on adaptive meshes. In this chapter, criteria for adaptive refinement and an adaptive algorithm is presented. The following papers are included in Part II Paper A: A New Smoothing Algorithm for Quadrilateral and Hexahedral Meshes presents an alternative to the Laplacian smoothing. The new smoothing is called the parallelogram smoothing. Parallelogram smoothing tries to fit a domain with the best possible parallelograms or parallelepipeds. Since many numerical methods in porous media flow such as the well known MPFA produces a symmetric system on parallelogram meshes. So, the parallelogram smoothing can be useful for porous media flow simulations. Error of streamline methods on parallelogram and parallelopiped mesh is minimum. Paper B: Hexahedral Mesh by Area Functional. We review the Area functional for generating hexahedral meshes. An algorithm for optimization of the area functional is presented. Since a global optimization can be computationally expensive, it is shown that such an optimization can be applied locally. Paper C: An Effective Quadrilateral Mesh Adaptation Paper is about generating adaptive quadrilateral meshes. We present an extension of the Area functional for generating adaptive meshes. Several numerical examples are reported for showing effectiveness of the functional. Generally for quadrilateral mesh adaptation, we solve a coupled system of non-linear partial differential equations such as the well known non-linear elliptic system. Presented new idea is simple and computationally efficient. The other big plus of the method is that even after generating the solution adapted grid, the cells remain convex. Paper D: Deposition of Green House Gases by Compositional Simulator: Long Term Reactive Transport of CO{sub 2} in the Sand of Utsira In this work, we present the mathematical models and their discretization for capturing major physical processes associated with CO{sub 2} sequestration/deposition in a

Numerical Tools for Multicomponent, Multiphase, Reactive Processes: Flow of CO{sub 2} in Porous Medium

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Khattri, Sanjay Kumar

2006-07-01

. Chapter 4 presents Control Volume discretization on adaptive meshes. In this chapter, criteria for adaptive refinement and an adaptive algorithm is presented. The following papers are included in Part II Paper A: A New Smoothing Algorithm for Quadrilateral and Hexahedral Meshes presents an alternative to the Laplacian smoothing. The new smoothing is called the parallelogram smoothing. Parallelogram smoothing tries to fit a domain with the best possible parallelograms or parallelepipeds. Since many numerical methods in porous media flow such as the well known MPFA produces a symmetric system on parallelogram meshes. So, the parallelogram smoothing can be useful for porous media flow simulations. Error of streamline methods on parallelogram and parallelopiped mesh is minimum. Paper B: Hexahedral Mesh by Area Functional. We review the Area functional for generating hexahedral meshes. An algorithm for optimization of the area functional is presented. Since a global optimization can be computationally expensive, it is shown that such an optimization can be applied locally. Paper C: An Effective Quadrilateral Mesh Adaptation Paper is about generating adaptive quadrilateral meshes. We present an extension of the Area functional for generating adaptive meshes. Several numerical examples are reported for showing effectiveness of the functional. Generally for quadrilateral mesh adaptation, we solve a coupled system of non-linear partial differential equations such as the well known non-linear elliptic system. Presented new idea is simple and computationally efficient. The other big plus of the method is that even after generating the solution adapted grid, the cells remain convex. Paper D: Deposition of Green House Gases by Compositional Simulator: Long Term Reactive Transport of CO{sub 2} in the Sand of Utsira In this work, we present the mathematical models and their discretization for capturing major physical processes associated with CO{sub 2} sequestration/deposition in a

On Reducing Delay in Mesh-Based P2P Streaming: A Mesh-Push Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Zheng; Xue, Kaiping; Hong, Peilin

The peer-assisted streaming paradigm has been widely employed to distribute live video data on the internet recently. In general, the mesh-based pull approach is more robust and efficient than the tree-based push approach. However, pull protocol brings about longer streaming delay, which is caused by the handshaking process of advertising buffer map message, sending request message and scheduling of the data block. In this paper, we propose a new approach, mesh-push, to address this issue. Different from the traditional pull approach, mesh-push implements block scheduling algorithm at sender side, where the block transmission is initiated by the sender rather than by the receiver. We first formulate the optimal upload bandwidth utilization problem, then present the mesh-push approach, in which a token protocol is designed to avoid block redundancy; a min-cost flow model is employed to derive the optimal scheduling for the push peer; and a push peer selection algorithm is introduced to reduce control overhead. Finally, we evaluate mesh-push through simulation, the results of which show mesh-push outperforms the pull scheduling in streaming delay, and achieves comparable delivery ratio at the same time.

C1-continuous Virtual Element Method for Poisson-Kirchhoff plate problem

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gyrya, Vitaliy [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Mourad, Hashem Mohamed [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2016-09-20

We present a family of C1-continuous high-order Virtual Element Methods for Poisson-Kirchho plate bending problem. The convergence of the methods is tested on a variety of meshes including rectangular, quadrilateral, and meshes obtained by edge removal (i.e. highly irregular meshes). The convergence rates are presented for all of these tests.

QMESH RENUM QPLOT, Mesh Generator on 2-D Bodies for Finite Element Method Analysis, with Plot Utility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jones, R.E.; Schkade, A.F.; Eyberger, L.R.

1991-01-01

1 - Description of problem or function: A set of five programs which make up a self-organising mesh generation package. QMESH generates meshes having quadrilateral elements on arbitrarily-shaped, two-dimensional (planar or axisymmetric) bodies. It is designed for use with two-dimensional finite element analysis applications. A flexible hierarchical input scheme is used to describe bodies to QMESH as collections of regions. A mesh for each region is developed independently, with the final assembly and bandwidth minimization performed by the independent program, RENUM or RENUM8. RENUM is applied when four-node elements are desired. Eight-node elements (with mid-side nodes) may be obtained with RENUM8., QPLOT and QPLOT8 are plot programs for meshes generated by the QMESH/RENUM and QMESH/RENUM8 program pairs, respectively. QPLOT and QPLOT8 automatically section the mesh into appropriately-sized sections for legible display of node and element numbers. An overall plot showing the position of the selected plot areas is produced. 2 - Method of solution: The mesh generating process for each individual region begins with the installation of an initial mesh which is a transformation of a regular grid on the unit square. The dimensions and orientation of the initial mesh may be defined by the user or, optionally, may be chosen by QMESH. Various smoothing algorithms may be applied to the initial mesh. Then, the mesh may be 'restructured' using an iterative scheme involving 'element pair restructuring', 'acute element deletion', and smoothing. In element pair restructuring, the interface side between two elements is removed and placed between two different nodes belonging to the pair of elements, provided that the change produces an overall improvement in the shapes of the two elements. In acute element deletion, an element having one diagonal much shorter than the other is deleted by collapsing the short diagonal to zero length The exact order in which restructuring, element

Parallel adaptation of general three-dimensional hybrid meshes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kavouklis, Christos; Kallinderis, Yannis

2010-01-01

A new parallel dynamic mesh adaptation and load balancing algorithm for general hybrid grids has been developed. The meshes considered in this work are composed of four kinds of elements; tetrahedra, prisms, hexahedra and pyramids, which poses a challenge to parallel mesh adaptation. Additional complexity imposed by the presence of multiple types of elements affects especially data migration, updates of local data structures and interpartition data structures. Efficient partition of hybrid meshes has been accomplished by transforming them to suitable graphs and using serial graph partitioning algorithms. Communication among processors is based on the faces of the interpartition boundary and the termination detection algorithm of Dijkstra is employed to ensure proper flagging of edges for refinement. An inexpensive dynamic load balancing strategy is introduced to redistribute work load among processors after adaptation. In particular, only the initial coarse mesh, with proper weighting, is balanced which yields savings in computation time and relatively simple implementation of mesh quality preservation rules, while facilitating coarsening of refined elements. Special algorithms are employed for (i) data migration and dynamic updates of the local data structures, (ii) determination of the resulting interpartition boundary and (iii) identification of the communication pattern of processors. Several representative applications are included to evaluate the method.

A mixed nonoverlapping covolume method on quadrilateral grids for elliptic problems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zhao, X.; Chen, Y.; Lv, J.

2016-01-01

A covolume method is proposed for the mixed formulation of second-order elliptic problems. The solution domain is divided by a quadrilateral grid, corresponding to which a nonoverlapping dual grid is constructed. The velocity and pressure are approximated by the lowest-order Raviart–Thomas space on

A multipoint flux mixed finite element method on distorted quadrilaterals and hexahedra

KAUST Repository

Wheeler, Mary; Xue, Guangri; Yotov, Ivan

2011-01-01

In this paper, we develop a new mixed finite element method for elliptic problems on general quadrilateral and hexahedral grids that reduces to a cell-centered finite difference scheme. A special non-symmetric quadrature rule is employed that yields

Evaluation of the generality and accuracy of a new mesh morphing procedure for the human femur.

Science.gov (United States)

Grassi, Lorenzo; Hraiech, Najah; Schileo, Enrico; Ansaloni, Mauro; Rochette, Michel; Viceconti, Marco

2011-01-01

Various papers described mesh morphing techniques for computational biomechanics, but none of them provided a quantitative assessment of generality, robustness, automation, and accuracy in predicting strains. This study aims to quantitatively evaluate the performance of a novel mesh-morphing algorithm. A mesh-morphing algorithm based on radial-basis functions and on manual selection of corresponding landmarks on template and target was developed. The periosteal geometries of 100 femurs were derived from a computed tomography scan database and used to test the algorithm generality in producing finite element (FE) morphed meshes. A published benchmark, consisting of eight femurs for which in vitro strain measurements and standard FE model strain prediction accuracy were available, was used to assess the accuracy of morphed FE models in predicting strains. Relevant parameters were identified to test the algorithm robustness to operative conditions. Time and effort needed were evaluated to define the algorithm degree of automation. Morphing was successful for 95% of the specimens, with mesh quality indicators comparable to those of standard FE meshes. Accuracy of the morphed meshes in predicting strains was good (R(2)>0.9, RMSE%0.05) and partially to the number of landmark used. Producing a morphed mesh starting from the triangularized geometry of the specimen requires on average 10 min. The proposed method is general, robust, automated, and accurate enough to be used in bone FE modelling from diagnostic data, and prospectively in applications such as statistical shape modelling. Copyright © 2010 IPEM. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Direct numerical simulation of bubbles with adaptive mesh refinement with distributed algorithms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Talpaert, Arthur

2017-01-01

This PhD work presents the implementation of the simulation of two-phase flows in conditions of water-cooled nuclear reactors, at the scale of individual bubbles. To achieve that, we study several models for Thermal-Hydraulic flows and we focus on a technique for the capture of the thin interface between liquid and vapour phases. We thus review some possible techniques for adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) and provide algorithmic and computational tools adapted to patch-based AMR, which aim is to locally improve the precision in regions of interest. More precisely, we introduce a patch-covering algorithm designed with balanced parallel computing in mind. This approach lets us finely capture changes located at the interface, as we show for advection test cases as well as for models with hyperbolic-elliptic coupling. The computations we present also include the simulation of the incompressible Navier-Stokes system, which models the shape changes of the interface between two non-miscible fluids. (author) [fr

22nd International Meshing Roundtable

CERN Document Server

Staten, Matthew

2014-01-01

This volume contains the articles presented at the 22nd International Meshing Roundtable (IMR) organized, in part, by Sandia National Laboratories and was held on Oct 13-16, 2013 in Orlando, Florida, USA.  The first IMR was held in 1992, and the conference series has been held annually since.  Each year the IMR brings together researchers, developers, and application experts in a variety of disciplines, from all over the world, to present and discuss ideas on mesh generation and related topics.  The technical papers in this volume present theoretical and novel ideas and algorithms with practical potential, as well as technical applications in science and engineering, geometric modeling, computer graphics and visualization.

21st International Meshing Roundtable

CERN Document Server

Weill, Jean-Christophe

2013-01-01

This volume contains the articles presented at the 21st International Meshing Roundtable (IMR) organized, in part, by Sandia National Laboratories and was held on October 7–10, 2012 in San Jose, CA, USA. The first IMR was held in 1992, and the conference series has been held annually since. Each year the IMR brings together researchers, developers, and application experts in a variety of disciplines, from all over the world, to present and discuss ideas on mesh generation and related topics. The technical papers in this volume present theoretical and novel ideas and algorithms with practical potential, as well as technical applications in science and engineering, geometric modeling, computer graphics, and visualization.

Streaming simplification of tetrahedral meshes.

Science.gov (United States)

Vo, Huy T; Callahan, Steven P; Lindstrom, Peter; Pascucci, Valerio; Silva, Cláudio T

2007-01-01

Unstructured tetrahedral meshes are commonly used in scientific computing to represent scalar, vector, and tensor fields in three dimensions. Visualization of these meshes can be difficult to perform interactively due to their size and complexity. By reducing the size of the data, we can accomplish real-time visualization necessary for scientific analysis. We propose a two-step approach for streaming simplification of large tetrahedral meshes. Our algorithm arranges the data on disk in a streaming, I/O-efficient format that allows coherent access to the tetrahedral cells. A quadric-based simplification is sequentially performed on small portions of the mesh in-core. Our output is a coherent streaming mesh which facilitates future processing. Our technique is fast, produces high quality approximations, and operates out-of-core to process meshes too large for main memory.

New software developments for quality mesh generation and optimization from biomedical imaging data.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Zeyun; Wang, Jun; Gao, Zhanheng; Xu, Ming; Hoshijima, Masahiko

2014-01-01

In this paper we present a new software toolkit for generating and optimizing surface and volumetric meshes from three-dimensional (3D) biomedical imaging data, targeted at image-based finite element analysis of some biomedical activities in a single material domain. Our toolkit includes a series of geometric processing algorithms including surface re-meshing and quality-guaranteed tetrahedral mesh generation and optimization. All methods described have been encapsulated into a user-friendly graphical interface for easy manipulation and informative visualization of biomedical images and mesh models. Numerous examples are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the described methods and toolkit. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fast precalculated triangular mesh algorithm for 3D binary computer-generated holograms.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Fan; Kaczorowski, Andrzej; Wilkinson, Tim D

2014-12-10

A new method for constructing computer-generated holograms using a precalculated triangular mesh is presented. The speed of calculation can be increased dramatically by exploiting both the precalculated base triangle and GPU parallel computing. Unlike algorithms using point-based sources, this method can reconstruct a more vivid 3D object instead of a "hollow image." In addition, there is no need to do a fast Fourier transform for each 3D element every time. A ferroelectric liquid crystal spatial light modulator is used to display the binary hologram within our experiment and the hologram of a base right triangle is produced by utilizing just a one-step Fourier transform in the 2D case, which can be expanded to the 3D case by multiplying by a suitable Fresnel phase plane. All 3D holograms generated in this paper are based on Fresnel propagation; thus, the Fresnel plane is treated as a vital element in producing the hologram. A GeForce GTX 770 graphics card with 2 GB memory is used to achieve parallel computing.

Resurvey of site stability quadrilaterals, Otay Mountain and Quincy, California. [San Andreas fault experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Scholz, C. H.

1977-01-01

Trilateration quadrilaterals established across two faults near the San Andreas Fault Experiment laser/satellite ranging sites were resurveyed after four years. No evidence of significant tectonic motion was found.

Students’ Relational Understanding in Quadrilateral Problem Solving Based on Adversity Quotient

Science.gov (United States)

Safitri, A. N.; Juniati, D.; Masriyah

2018-01-01

The type of research is qualitative approach which aims to describe how students’ relational understanding of solving mathematic problem that was seen from Adversity Quotient aspect. Research subjects were three 7th grade students of Junior High School. They were taken by category of Adversity Quotient (AQ) such quitter, camper, and climber. Data collected based on problem solving and interview. The research result showed that (1) at the stage of understanding the problem, the subjects were able to state and write down what is known and asked, and able to mention the concepts associated with the quadrilateral problem. (2) The three subjects devise a plan by linking concepts relating to quadrilateral problems. (3) The three subjects were able to solve the problem. (4) The three subjects were able to look back the answers. The three subjects were able to understand the problem, devise a plan, carry out the plan and look back. However, the quitter and camper subjects have not been able to give a reason for the steps they have taken.

Development and verification of unstructured adaptive mesh technique with edge compatibility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ito, Kei; Ohshima, Hiroyuki; Kunugi, Tomoaki

2010-01-01

In the design study of the large-sized sodium-cooled fast reactor (JSFR), one key issue is suppression of gas entrainment (GE) phenomena at a gas-liquid interface. Therefore, the authors have been developed a high-precision CFD algorithm to evaluate the GE phenomena accurately. The CFD algorithm has been developed on unstructured meshes to establish an accurate modeling of JSFR system. For two-phase interfacial flow simulations, a high-precision volume-of-fluid algorithm is employed. It was confirmed that the developed CFD algorithm could reproduce the GE phenomena in a simple GE experiment. Recently, the authors have been developed an important technique for the simulation of the GE phenomena in JSFR. That is an unstructured adaptive mesh technique which can apply fine cells dynamically to the region where the GE occurs in JSFR. In this paper, as a part of the development, a two-dimensional unstructured adaptive mesh technique is discussed. In the two-dimensional adaptive mesh technique, each cell is refined isotropically to reduce distortions of the mesh. In addition, connection cells are formed to eliminate the edge incompatibility between refined and non-refined cells. The two-dimensional unstructured adaptive mesh technique is verified by solving well-known lid-driven cavity flow problem. As a result, the two-dimensional unstructured adaptive mesh technique succeeds in providing a high-precision solution, even though poor-quality distorted initial mesh is employed. In addition, the simulation error on the two-dimensional unstructured adaptive mesh is much less than the error on the structured mesh with a larger number of cells. (author)

Feature-Sensitive Tetrahedral Mesh Generation with Guaranteed Quality

OpenAIRE

Wang, Jun; Yu, Zeyun

2012-01-01

Tetrahedral meshes are being extensively used in finite element methods (FEM). This paper proposes an algorithm to generate feature-sensitive and high-quality tetrahedral meshes from an arbitrary surface mesh model. A top-down octree subdivision is conducted on the surface mesh and a set of tetrahedra are constructed using adaptive body-centered cubic (BCC) lattices. Special treatments are given to the tetrahedra near the surface such that the quality of the resulting tetrahedral mesh is prov...

Toward An Unstructured Mesh Database

Science.gov (United States)

Rezaei Mahdiraji, Alireza; Baumann, Peter Peter

2014-05-01

Unstructured meshes are used in several application domains such as earth sciences (e.g., seismology), medicine, oceanography, cli- mate modeling, GIS as approximate representations of physical objects. Meshes subdivide a domain into smaller geometric elements (called cells) which are glued together by incidence relationships. The subdivision of a domain allows computational manipulation of complicated physical structures. For instance, seismologists model earthquakes using elastic wave propagation solvers on hexahedral meshes. The hexahedral con- tains several hundred millions of grid points and millions of hexahedral cells. Each vertex node in the hexahedrals stores a multitude of data fields. To run simulation on such meshes, one needs to iterate over all the cells, iterate over incident cells to a given cell, retrieve coordinates of cells, assign data values to cells, etc. Although meshes are used in many application domains, to the best of our knowledge there is no database vendor that support unstructured mesh features. Currently, the main tool for querying and manipulating unstructured meshes are mesh libraries, e.g., CGAL and GRAL. Mesh li- braries are dedicated libraries which includes mesh algorithms and can be run on mesh representations. The libraries do not scale with dataset size, do not have declarative query language, and need deep C++ knowledge for query implementations. Furthermore, due to high coupling between the implementations and input file structure, the implementations are less reusable and costly to maintain. A dedicated mesh database offers the following advantages: 1) declarative querying, 2) ease of maintenance, 3) hiding mesh storage structure from applications, and 4) transparent query optimization. To design a mesh database, the first challenge is to define a suitable generic data model for unstructured meshes. We proposed ImG-Complexes data model as a generic topological mesh data model which extends incidence graph model to multi

Geometrically Consistent Mesh Modification

KAUST Repository

Bonito, A.

2010-01-01

A new paradigm of adaptivity is to execute refinement, coarsening, and smoothing of meshes on manifolds with incomplete information about their geometry and yet preserve position and curvature accuracy. We refer to this collectively as geometrically consistent (GC) mesh modification. We discuss the concept of discrete GC, show the failure of naive approaches, and propose and analyze a simple algorithm that is GC and accuracy preserving. © 2010 Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.

Watermarking on 3D mesh based on spherical wavelet transform.

Science.gov (United States)

Jin, Jian-Qiu; Dai, Min-Ya; Bao, Hu-Jun; Peng, Qun-Sheng

2004-03-01

In this paper we propose a robust watermarking algorithm for 3D mesh. The algorithm is based on spherical wavelet transform. Our basic idea is to decompose the original mesh into a series of details at different scales by using spherical wavelet transform; the watermark is then embedded into the different levels of details. The embedding process includes: global sphere parameterization, spherical uniform sampling, spherical wavelet forward transform, embedding watermark, spherical wavelet inverse transform, and at last resampling the mesh watermarked to recover the topological connectivity of the original model. Experiments showed that our algorithm can improve the capacity of the watermark and the robustness of watermarking against attacks.

Automatic mesh adaptivity for CADIS and FW-CADIS neutronics modeling of difficult shielding problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ibrahim, A. M.; Peplow, D. E.; Mosher, S. W.; Wagner, J. C.; Evans, T. M.; Wilson, P. P.; Sawan, M. E.

2013-01-01

The CADIS and FW-CADIS hybrid Monte Carlo/deterministic techniques dramatically increase the efficiency of neutronics modeling, but their use in the accurate design analysis of very large and geometrically complex nuclear systems has been limited by the large number of processors and memory requirements for their preliminary deterministic calculations and final Monte Carlo calculation. Three mesh adaptivity algorithms were developed to reduce the memory requirements of CADIS and FW-CADIS without sacrificing their efficiency improvement. First, a macro-material approach enhances the fidelity of the deterministic models without changing the mesh. Second, a deterministic mesh refinement algorithm generates meshes that capture as much geometric detail as possible without exceeding a specified maximum number of mesh elements. Finally, a weight window coarsening algorithm de-couples the weight window mesh and energy bins from the mesh and energy group structure of the deterministic calculations in order to remove the memory constraint of the weight window map from the deterministic mesh resolution. The three algorithms were used to enhance an FW-CADIS calculation of the prompt dose rate throughout the ITER experimental facility. Using these algorithms resulted in a 23.3% increase in the number of mesh tally elements in which the dose rates were calculated in a 10-day Monte Carlo calculation and, additionally, increased the efficiency of the Monte Carlo simulation by a factor of at least 3.4. The three algorithms enabled this difficult calculation to be accurately solved using an FW-CADIS simulation on a regular computer cluster, obviating the need for a world-class super computer. (authors)

Automatic mesh adaptivity for hybrid Monte Carlo/deterministic neutronics modeling of difficult shielding problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ibrahim, Ahmad M.; Wilson, Paul P.H.; Sawan, Mohamed E.; Mosher, Scott W.; Peplow, Douglas E.; Wagner, John C.; Evans, Thomas M.; Grove, Robert E.

2015-01-01

The CADIS and FW-CADIS hybrid Monte Carlo/deterministic techniques dramatically increase the efficiency of neutronics modeling, but their use in the accurate design analysis of very large and geometrically complex nuclear systems has been limited by the large number of processors and memory requirements for their preliminary deterministic calculations and final Monte Carlo calculation. Three mesh adaptivity algorithms were developed to reduce the memory requirements of CADIS and FW-CADIS without sacrificing their efficiency improvement. First, a macromaterial approach enhances the fidelity of the deterministic models without changing the mesh. Second, a deterministic mesh refinement algorithm generates meshes that capture as much geometric detail as possible without exceeding a specified maximum number of mesh elements. Finally, a weight window coarsening algorithm decouples the weight window mesh and energy bins from the mesh and energy group structure of the deterministic calculations in order to remove the memory constraint of the weight window map from the deterministic mesh resolution. The three algorithms were used to enhance an FW-CADIS calculation of the prompt dose rate throughout the ITER experimental facility. Using these algorithms resulted in a 23.3% increase in the number of mesh tally elements in which the dose rates were calculated in a 10-day Monte Carlo calculation and, additionally, increased the efficiency of the Monte Carlo simulation by a factor of at least 3.4. The three algorithms enabled this difficult calculation to be accurately solved using an FW-CADIS simulation on a regular computer cluster, eliminating the need for a world-class super computer

Investigation of Prospective Primary Mathematics Teachers' Perceptions and Images for Quadrilaterals

Science.gov (United States)

Turnuklu, Elif; Gundogdu Alayli, Funda; Akkas, Elif Nur

2013-01-01

The object of this study was to show how prospective elementary mathematics teachers define and classify the quadrilaterals and to find out their images. This research was a qualitative study. It was conducted with 36 prospective elementary mathematics teachers studying at 3rd and 4th years in an educational faculty. The data were collected by…

Study on boundary search method for DFM mesh generation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Li Ri

2012-08-01

Full Text Available The boundary mesh of the casting model was determined by direct calculation on the triangular facets extracted from the STL file of the 3D model. Then the inner and outer grids of the model were identified by the algorithm in which we named Inner Seed Grid Method. Finally, a program to automatically generate a 3D FDM mesh was compiled. In the paper, a method named Triangle Contraction Search Method (TCSM was put forward to ensure not losing the boundary grids; while an algorithm to search inner seed grids to identify inner/outer grids of the casting model was also brought forward. Our algorithm was simple, clear and easy to construct program. Three examples for the casting mesh generation testified the validity of the program.

Streaming Compression of Hexahedral Meshes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Isenburg, M; Courbet, C

2010-02-03

We describe a method for streaming compression of hexahedral meshes. Given an interleaved stream of vertices and hexahedral our coder incrementally compresses the mesh in the presented order. Our coder is extremely memory efficient when the input stream documents when vertices are referenced for the last time (i.e. when it contains topological finalization tags). Our coder then continuously releases and reuses data structures that no longer contribute to compressing the remainder of the stream. This means in practice that our coder has only a small fraction of the whole mesh in memory at any time. We can therefore compress very large meshes - even meshes that do not file in memory. Compared to traditional, non-streaming approaches that load the entire mesh and globally reorder it during compression, our algorithm trades a less compact compressed representation for significant gains in speed, memory, and I/O efficiency. For example, on the 456k hexahedra 'blade' mesh, our coder is twice as fast and uses 88 times less memory (only 3.1 MB) with the compressed file increasing about 3% in size. We also present the first scheme for predictive compression of properties associated with hexahedral cells.

A Reconfigurable Mesh-Ring Topology for Bluetooth Sensor Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ben-Yi Wang

2018-05-01

Full Text Available In this paper, a Reconfigurable Mesh-Ring (RMR algorithm is proposed for Bluetooth sensor networks. The algorithm is designed in three stages to determine the optimal configuration of the mesh-ring network. Firstly, a designated root advertises and discovers its neighboring nodes. Secondly, a scatternet criterion is built to compute the minimum number of piconets and distributes the connection information for piconet and scatternet. Finally, a peak-search method is designed to determine the optimal mesh-ring configuration for various sizes of networks. To maximize the network capacity, the research problem is formulated by determining the best connectivity of available mesh links. During the formation and maintenance phases, three possible configurations (including piconet, scatternet, and hybrid are examined to determine the optimal placement of mesh links. The peak-search method is a systematic approach, and is implemented by three functional blocks: the topology formation block generates the mesh-ring topology, the routing efficiency block computes the routing performance, and the optimum decision block introduces a decision-making criterion to determine the optimum number of mesh links. Simulation results demonstrate that the optimal mesh-ring configuration can be determined and that the scatternet case achieves better overall performance than the other two configurations. The RMR topology also outperforms the conventional ring-based and cluster-based mesh methods in terms of throughput performance for Bluetooth configurable networks.

Computational mesh generation for vascular structures with deformable surfaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Putter, S. de; Laffargue, F.; Breeuwer, M.; Vosse, F.N. van de; Gerritsen, F.A.; Philips Medical Systems, Best

2006-01-01

Computational blood flow and vessel wall mechanics simulations for vascular structures are becoming an important research tool for patient-specific surgical planning and intervention. An important step in the modelling process for patient-specific simulations is the creation of the computational mesh based on the segmented geometry. Most known solutions either require a large amount of manual processing or lead to a substantial difference between the segmented object and the actual computational domain. We have developed a chain of algorithms that lead to a closely related implementation of image segmentation with deformable models and 3D mesh generation. The resulting processing chain is very robust and leads both to an accurate geometrical representation of the vascular structure as well as high quality computational meshes. The chain of algorithms has been tested on a wide variety of shapes. A benchmark comparison of our mesh generation application with five other available meshing applications clearly indicates that the new approach outperforms the existing methods in the majority of cases. (orig.)

Adaptive mesh refinement for storm surge

KAUST Repository

Mandli, Kyle T.; Dawson, Clint N.

2014-01-01

An approach to utilizing adaptive mesh refinement algorithms for storm surge modeling is proposed. Currently numerical models exist that can resolve the details of coastal regions but are often too costly to be run in an ensemble forecasting framework without significant computing resources. The application of adaptive mesh refinement algorithms substantially lowers the computational cost of a storm surge model run while retaining much of the desired coastal resolution. The approach presented is implemented in the GeoClaw framework and compared to ADCIRC for Hurricane Ike along with observed tide gauge data and the computational cost of each model run. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.

Adaptive mesh refinement for storm surge

KAUST Repository

Mandli, Kyle T.

2014-03-01

An approach to utilizing adaptive mesh refinement algorithms for storm surge modeling is proposed. Currently numerical models exist that can resolve the details of coastal regions but are often too costly to be run in an ensemble forecasting framework without significant computing resources. The application of adaptive mesh refinement algorithms substantially lowers the computational cost of a storm surge model run while retaining much of the desired coastal resolution. The approach presented is implemented in the GeoClaw framework and compared to ADCIRC for Hurricane Ike along with observed tide gauge data and the computational cost of each model run. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.

A Novel Mesh Quality Improvement Method for Boundary Elements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hou-lin Liu

2012-01-01

Full Text Available In order to improve the boundary mesh quality while maintaining the essential characteristics of discrete surfaces, a new approach combining optimization-based smoothing and topology optimization is developed. The smoothing objective function is modified, in which two functions denoting boundary and interior quality, respectively, and a weight coefficient controlling boundary quality are taken into account. In addition, the existing smoothing algorithm can improve the mesh quality only by repositioning vertices of the interior mesh. Without destroying boundary conformity, bad elements with all their vertices on the boundary cannot be eliminated. Then, topology optimization is employed, and those elements are converted into other types of elements whose quality can be improved by smoothing. The practical application shows that the worst elements can be eliminated and, with the increase of weight coefficient, the average quality of boundary mesh can also be improved. Results obtained with the combined approach are compared with some common approach. It is clearly shown that it performs better than the existing approach.

Agent-based Algorithm for Spatial Distribution of Objects

KAUST Repository

Collier, Nathan

2012-06-02

In this paper we present an agent-based algorithm for the spatial distribution of objects. The algorithm is a generalization of the bubble mesh algorithm, initially created for the point insertion stage of the meshing process of the finite element method. The bubble mesh algorithm treats objects in space as bubbles, which repel and attract each other. The dynamics of each bubble are approximated by solving a series of ordinary differential equations. We present numerical results for a meshing application as well as a graph visualization application.

Finite element method with quadratic quadrilateral unit for solving two dimensional incompressible N-S equation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tao Ganqiang; Yu Qing; Xiao Xiao

2011-01-01

Viscous and incompressible fluid flow is important for numerous engineering mechanics problems. Because of high non linear and incompressibility for Navier-Stokes equation, it is very difficult to solve Navier-Stokes equation by numerical method. According to its characters of Navier-Stokes equation, quartic derivation controlling equation of the two dimensional incompressible Navier-Stokes equation is set up firstly. The method solves the problem for dealing with vorticity boundary and automatically meets incompressibility condition. Then Finite Element equation for Navier-Stokes equation is proposed by using quadratic quadrilateral unit with 8 nodes in which the unit function is quadratic and non linear.-Based on it, the Finite Element program of quadratic quadrilateral unit with 8 nodes is developed. Lastly, numerical experiment proves the accuracy and dependability of the method and also shows the method has good application prospect in computational fluid mechanics. (authors)

Validation of the coupling of mesh models to GEANT4 Monte Carlo code for simulation of internal sources of photons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Caribe, Paulo Rauli Rafeson Vasconcelos; Cassola, Vagner Ferreira; Kramer, Richard; Khoury, Helen Jamil

2013-01-01

The use of three-dimensional models described by polygonal meshes in numerical dosimetry enables more accurate modeling of complex objects than the use of simple solid. The objectives of this work were validate the coupling of mesh models to the Monte Carlo code GEANT4 and evaluate the influence of the number of vertices in the simulations to obtain absorbed fractions of energy (AFEs). Validation of the coupling was performed to internal sources of photons with energies between 10 keV and 1 MeV for spherical geometries described by the GEANT4 and three-dimensional models with different number of vertices and triangular or quadrilateral faces modeled using Blender program. As a result it was found that there were no significant differences between AFEs for objects described by mesh models and objects described using solid volumes of GEANT4. Since that maintained the shape and the volume the decrease in the number of vertices to describe an object does not influence so meant dosimetric data, but significantly decreases the time required to achieve the dosimetric calculations, especially for energies less than 100 keV

A parallel graded-mesh FDTD algorithm for human-antenna interaction problems.

Science.gov (United States)

Catarinucci, Luca; Tarricone, Luciano

2009-01-01

The finite difference time domain method (FDTD) is frequently used for the numerical solution of a wide variety of electromagnetic (EM) problems and, among them, those concerning human exposure to EM fields. In many practical cases related to the assessment of occupational EM exposure, large simulation domains are modeled and high space resolution adopted, so that strong memory and central processing unit power requirements have to be satisfied. To better afford the computational effort, the use of parallel computing is a winning approach; alternatively, subgridding techniques are often implemented. However, the simultaneous use of subgridding schemes and parallel algorithms is very new. In this paper, an easy-to-implement and highly-efficient parallel graded-mesh (GM) FDTD scheme is proposed and applied to human-antenna interaction problems, demonstrating its appropriateness in dealing with complex occupational tasks and showing its capability to guarantee the advantages of a traditional subgridding technique without affecting the parallel FDTD performance.

Assessment of fusion facility dose rate map using mesh adaptivity enhancements of hybrid Monte Carlo/deterministic techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ibrahim, Ahmad M.; Wilson, Paul P.; Sawan, Mohamed E.; Mosher, Scott W.; Peplow, Douglas E.; Grove, Robert E.

2014-01-01

Highlights: •Calculate the prompt dose rate everywhere throughout the entire fusion energy facility. •Utilize FW-CADIS to accurately perform difficult neutronics calculations for fusion energy systems. •Develop three mesh adaptivity algorithms to enhance FW-CADIS efficiency in fusion-neutronics calculations. -- Abstract: Three mesh adaptivity algorithms were developed to facilitate and expedite the use of the CADIS and FW-CADIS hybrid Monte Carlo/deterministic techniques in accurate full-scale neutronics simulations of fusion energy systems with immense sizes and complicated geometries. First, a macromaterial approach enhances the fidelity of the deterministic models without changing the mesh. Second, a deterministic mesh refinement algorithm generates meshes that capture as much geometric detail as possible without exceeding a specified maximum number of mesh elements. Finally, a weight window coarsening algorithm decouples the weight window mesh and energy bins from the mesh and energy group structure of the deterministic calculations in order to remove the memory constraint of the weight window map from the deterministic mesh resolution. The three algorithms were used to enhance an FW-CADIS calculation of the prompt dose rate throughout the ITER experimental facility and resulted in a 23.3% increase in the number of mesh tally elements in which the dose rates were calculated in a 10-day Monte Carlo calculation. Additionally, because of the significant increase in the efficiency of FW-CADIS simulations, the three algorithms enabled this difficult calculation to be accurately solved on a regular computer cluster, eliminating the need for a world-class super computer

Variational mesh segmentation via quadric surface fitting

KAUST Repository

Yan, Dongming; Wang, Wen Ping; Liu, Yang; Yang, Zhouwang

2012-01-01

We present a new variational method for mesh segmentation by fitting quadric surfaces. Each component of the resulting segmentation is represented by a general quadric surface (including plane as a special case). A novel energy function is defined to evaluate the quality of the segmentation, which combines both L2 and L2 ,1 metrics from a triangle to a quadric surface. The Lloyd iteration is used to minimize the energy function, which repeatedly interleaves between mesh partition and quadric surface fitting. We also integrate feature-based and simplification-based techniques in the segmentation framework, which greatly improve the performance. The advantages of our algorithm are demonstrated by comparing with the state-of-the-art methods. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Variational mesh segmentation via quadric surface fitting

KAUST Repository

Yan, Dongming

2012-11-01

We present a new variational method for mesh segmentation by fitting quadric surfaces. Each component of the resulting segmentation is represented by a general quadric surface (including plane as a special case). A novel energy function is defined to evaluate the quality of the segmentation, which combines both L2 and L2 ,1 metrics from a triangle to a quadric surface. The Lloyd iteration is used to minimize the energy function, which repeatedly interleaves between mesh partition and quadric surface fitting. We also integrate feature-based and simplification-based techniques in the segmentation framework, which greatly improve the performance. The advantages of our algorithm are demonstrated by comparing with the state-of-the-art methods. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

QUADRATIC SERENDIPITY FINITE ELEMENTS ON POLYGONS USING GENERALIZED BARYCENTRIC COORDINATES.

Science.gov (United States)

Rand, Alexander; Gillette, Andrew; Bajaj, Chandrajit

2014-01-01

We introduce a finite element construction for use on the class of convex, planar polygons and show it obtains a quadratic error convergence estimate. On a convex n -gon, our construction produces 2 n basis functions, associated in a Lagrange-like fashion to each vertex and each edge midpoint, by transforming and combining a set of n ( n + 1)/2 basis functions known to obtain quadratic convergence. The technique broadens the scope of the so-called 'serendipity' elements, previously studied only for quadrilateral and regular hexahedral meshes, by employing the theory of generalized barycentric coordinates. Uniform a priori error estimates are established over the class of convex quadrilaterals with bounded aspect ratio as well as over the class of convex planar polygons satisfying additional shape regularity conditions to exclude large interior angles and short edges. Numerical evidence is provided on a trapezoidal quadrilateral mesh, previously not amenable to serendipity constructions, and applications to adaptive meshing are discussed.

Characterization of Structures and Compositions of Quadrilateral Pyroxenes by Raman Spectroscopy - Implications for Future Planetary Exploration

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, A.; Jolliff, Bradley L.; Haskin, Larry A.; Kuebler, K. E.

2000-01-01

Raman spectral data are used to distinguish the major structure types and to calculate the major compositional parameters (Mg' and Wo) of quadrilateral pyroxenes. The discrepancies between calculated and measured values are within +/-0.1 cation unit.

Local adaptive mesh refinement for shock hydrodynamics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berger, M.J.; Colella, P.; Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, Livermore, 94550 California)

1989-01-01

The aim of this work is the development of an automatic, adaptive mesh refinement strategy for solving hyperbolic conservation laws in two dimensions. There are two main difficulties in doing this. The first problem is due to the presence of discontinuities in the solution and the effect on them of discontinuities in the mesh. The second problem is how to organize the algorithm to minimize memory and CPU overhead. This is an important consideration and will continue to be important as more sophisticated algorithms that use data structures other than arrays are developed for use on vector and parallel computers. copyright 1989 Academic Press, Inc

Educational Software for the Teaching and Learning of Quadrilaterals Generated from a Programming Language and the Dabeja Method (Invited Paper

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Bejarano Segura

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The teaching of math is a process that starts from an early age especially the teaching of geometry through which different representations, constructions, axioms, and theorems among others helps develop the formal thoughts of individuals. This requires not only graphical but demonstrative processes that mentally schemes chords to generate levels of rational thought. Quadrilaterals are part of the components of geometry in the two-dimensional and three-dimensional fields. They possess properties, definitions, classifications, and studies through postulations of parallelism and perpendicularity. Using dynamic strategies and formal processes of knowledge as the Dabeja method to strengthen the teaching of geometry of quadrilaterals through the construction of dynamic courseware, is one of the questions that reveals problems in thought formation. This is an investigation of a parametric quantitative approach with an experimental design of research aimed at the techno de facto and their relationship with the individual development of a formal thinking. An educational software was developed using the Java programming language to construct quadrilaterals, demonstrate their properties and relationships through the Dabeja method.

Partitioning of unstructured meshes for load balancing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martin, O.C.; Otto, S.W.

1994-01-01

Many large-scale engineering and scientific calculations involve repeated updating of variables on an unstructured mesh. To do these types of computations on distributed memory parallel computers, it is necessary to partition the mesh among the processors so that the load balance is maximized and inter-processor communication time is minimized. This can be approximated by the problem, of partitioning a graph so as to obtain a minimum cut, a well-studied combinatorial optimization problem. Graph partitioning algorithms are discussed that give good but not necessarily optimum solutions. These algorithms include local search methods recursive spectral bisection, and more general purpose methods such as simulated annealing. It is shown that a general procedure enables to combine simulated annealing with Kernighan-Lin. The resulting algorithm is both very fast and extremely effective. (authors) 23 refs., 3 figs., 1 tab

Multi-scale freeform surface texture filtering using a mesh relaxation scheme

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jiang, Xiangqian; Abdul-Rahman, Hussein S; Scott, Paul J

2013-01-01

Surface filtering algorithms using Fourier, Gaussian, wavelets, etc, are well-established for simple Euclidean geometries. However, these filtration techniques cannot be applied to today's complex freeform surfaces, which have non-Euclidean geometries, without distortion of the results. This paper proposes a new multi-scale filtering algorithm for freeform surfaces that are represented by triangular meshes based on a mesh relaxation scheme. The proposed algorithm is capable of decomposing a freeform surface into different scales and separating surface roughness, waviness and form from each other, as will be demonstrated throughout the paper. Results of applying the proposed algorithm to computer-generated as well as real surfaces are represented and compared with a lifting wavelet filtering algorithm. (paper)

The Quick Measure of a Nurbs Surface Curvature for Accurate Triangular Meshing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kniat Aleksander

2014-04-01

Full Text Available NURBS surfaces are the most widely used surfaces for three-dimensional models in CAD/ CAE programs. When a model for FEM calculation is prepared with a CAD program it is inevitable to mesh it finally. There are many algorithms for meshing planar regions. Some of them may be used for meshing surfaces but it is necessary to take the curvature of the surface under consideration to avoid poor quality mesh. The mesh must be denser in the curved regions of the surface. In this paper, instead of analysing a surface curvature, the method to assess how close is a mesh triangle to the surface to which its vertices belong, is presented. The distance between a mesh triangle and a parallel tangent plane through a point on a surface is the measure of the triangle quality. Finding the surface point whose projection is located inside the mesh triangle and which is the tangency point to the plane parallel to this triangle is an optimization problem. Mathematical description of the problem and the algorithm to find its solution are also presented in the paper.

Rapid Separation of Disconnected Triangle Meshes Based on Graph Traversal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ji, S J; Wang, Y

2006-01-01

In recent year, The STL file become a de facto standard on the file presentation in CAD/CAM, computer graph and reverse engineering. When point cloud which is obtained by scanning object body using optical instrument is used to reconstruct an original model, the points cloud is presented by the STL file. Usually, datum of several separated and relative objects are stored in a single STL file, when such a file is operated by a computer, the datum in the file is firstly separated and then each element of every triangle pitch on the triangle mesh is traversed and visited and is calculated. The problem is analyzed and studied by many experts, but there is still a lack of a simple and quick algorithm. An algorithm which uses graph traversal to traverse each element of the triangle meshes and separate several disconnected triangle meshes is presented by the paper, the searching and calculating speed of the data on the triangle meshes is enhanced, memory size of the computer is reduced, complexity of the data structure is simplified and powerful guarantee is made for the next process by using this algorithm

A high-precision algorithm for axisymmetric flow

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Gokhman

1995-01-01

Full Text Available We present a new algorithm for highly accurate computation of axisymmetric potential flow. The principal feature of the algorithm is the use of orthogonal curvilinear coordinates. These coordinates are used to write down the equations and to specify quadrilateral elements following the boundary. In particular, boundary conditions for the Stokes' stream-function are satisfied exactly. The velocity field is determined by differentiating the stream-function. We avoid the use of quadratures in the evaluation of Galerkin integrals, and instead use splining of the boundaries of elements to take the double integrals of the shape functions in closed form. This is very accurate and not time consuming.

High-fidelity meshes from tissue samples for diffusion MRI simulations.

Science.gov (United States)

Panagiotaki, Eleftheria; Hall, Matt G; Zhang, Hui; Siow, Bernard; Lythgoe, Mark F; Alexander, Daniel C

2010-01-01

This paper presents a method for constructing detailed geometric models of tissue microstructure for synthesizing realistic diffusion MRI data. We construct three-dimensional mesh models from confocal microscopy image stacks using the marching cubes algorithm. Random-walk simulations within the resulting meshes provide synthetic diffusion MRI measurements. Experiments optimise simulation parameters and complexity of the meshes to achieve accuracy and reproducibility while minimizing computation time. Finally we assess the quality of the synthesized data from the mesh models by comparison with scanner data as well as synthetic data from simple geometric models and simplified meshes that vary only in two dimensions. The results support the extra complexity of the three-dimensional mesh compared to simpler models although sensitivity to the mesh resolution is quite robust.

pyres: a Python wrapper for electrical resistivity modeling with R2

Science.gov (United States)

Befus, Kevin M.

2018-04-01

A Python package, pyres, was written to handle common as well as specialized input and output tasks for the R2 electrical resistivity (ER) modeling program. Input steps including handling field data, creating quadrilateral or triangular meshes, and data filtering allow repeatable and flexible ER modeling within a programming environment. pyres includes non-trivial routines and functions for locating and constraining specific known or separately-parameterized regions in both quadrilateral and triangular meshes. Three basic examples of how to run forward and inverse models with pyres are provided. The importance of testing mesh convergence and model sensitivity are also addressed with higher-level examples that show how pyres can facilitate future research-grade ER analyses.

Optimal data replication: A new approach to optimizing parallel EM algorithms on a mesh-connected multiprocessor for 3D PET image reconstruction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, C.M.; Lee, S.Y.

1995-01-01

The EM algorithm promises an estimated image with the maximal likelihood for 3D PET image reconstruction. However, due to its long computation time, the EM algorithm has not been widely used in practice. While several parallel implementations of the EM algorithm have been developed to make the EM algorithm feasible, they do not guarantee an optimal parallelization efficiency. In this paper, the authors propose a new parallel EM algorithm which maximizes the performance by optimizing data replication on a mesh-connected message-passing multiprocessor. To optimize data replication, the authors have formally derived the optimal allocation of shared data, group sizes, integration and broadcasting of replicated data as well as the scheduling of shared data accesses. The proposed parallel EM algorithm has been implemented on an iPSC/860 with 16 PEs. The experimental and theoretical results, which are consistent with each other, have shown that the proposed parallel EM algorithm could improve performance substantially over those using unoptimized data replication

Generalized Framework and Algorithms for Illustrative Visualization of Time-Varying Data on Unstructured Meshes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Alexander S. Rattner; Donna Post Guillen; Alark Joshi

2012-12-01

Photo- and physically-realistic techniques are often insufficient for visualization of simulation results, especially for 3D and time-varying datasets. Substantial research efforts have been dedicated to the development of non-photorealistic and illustration-inspired visualization techniques for compact and intuitive presentation of such complex datasets. While these efforts have yielded valuable visualization results, a great deal of work has been reproduced in studies as individual research groups often develop purpose-built platforms. Additionally, interoperability between illustrative visualization software is limited due to specialized processing and rendering architectures employed in different studies. In this investigation, a generalized framework for illustrative visualization is proposed, and implemented in marmotViz, a ParaView plugin, enabling its use on variety of computing platforms with various data file formats and mesh geometries. Detailed descriptions of the region-of-interest identification and feature-tracking algorithms incorporated into this tool are provided. Additionally, implementations of multiple illustrative effect algorithms are presented to demonstrate the use and flexibility of this framework. By providing a framework and useful underlying functionality, the marmotViz tool can act as a springboard for future research in the field of illustrative visualization.

A QoS Framework with Traffic Request in Wireless Mesh Network

Science.gov (United States)

Fu, Bo; Huang, Hejiao

In this paper, we consider major issues in ensuring greater Quality-of-Service (QoS) in Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs), specifically with regard to reliability and delay. To this end, we use traffic request to record QoS requirements of data flows. In order to achieve required QoS for all data flows efficiently and with high portability, we develop Network State Update Algorithm. All assumptions, definitions, and algorithms are made exclusively with WMNs in mind, guaranteeing the portability of our framework to various environments in WMNs. The simulation results in proof that our framework is correct.

Kinetic solvers with adaptive mesh in phase space

Science.gov (United States)

Arslanbekov, Robert R.; Kolobov, Vladimir I.; Frolova, Anna A.

2013-12-01

An adaptive mesh in phase space (AMPS) methodology has been developed for solving multidimensional kinetic equations by the discrete velocity method. A Cartesian mesh for both configuration (r) and velocity (v) spaces is produced using a “tree of trees” (ToT) data structure. The r mesh is automatically generated around embedded boundaries, and is dynamically adapted to local solution properties. The v mesh is created on-the-fly in each r cell. Mappings between neighboring v-space trees is implemented for the advection operator in r space. We have developed algorithms for solving the full Boltzmann and linear Boltzmann equations with AMPS. Several recent innovations were used to calculate the discrete Boltzmann collision integral with dynamically adaptive v mesh: the importance sampling, multipoint projection, and variance reduction methods. We have developed an efficient algorithm for calculating the linear Boltzmann collision integral for elastic and inelastic collisions of hot light particles in a Lorentz gas. Our AMPS technique has been demonstrated for simulations of hypersonic rarefied gas flows, ion and electron kinetics in weakly ionized plasma, radiation and light-particle transport through thin films, and electron streaming in semiconductors. We have shown that AMPS allows minimizing the number of cells in phase space to reduce the computational cost and memory usage for solving challenging kinetic problems.

The DANTE Boltzmann transport solver: An unstructured mesh, 3-D, spherical harmonics algorithm compatible with parallel computer architectures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McGhee, J.M.; Roberts, R.M.; Morel, J.E.

1997-01-01

A spherical harmonics research code (DANTE) has been developed which is compatible with parallel computer architectures. DANTE provides 3-D, multi-material, deterministic, transport capabilities using an arbitrary finite element mesh. The linearized Boltzmann transport equation is solved in a second order self-adjoint form utilizing a Galerkin finite element spatial differencing scheme. The core solver utilizes a preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithm. Other distinguishing features of the code include options for discrete-ordinates and simplified spherical harmonics angular differencing, an exact Marshak boundary treatment for arbitrarily oriented boundary faces, in-line matrix construction techniques to minimize memory consumption, and an effective diffusion based preconditioner for scattering dominated problems. Algorithm efficiency is demonstrated for a massively parallel SIMD architecture (CM-5), and compatibility with MPP multiprocessor platforms or workstation clusters is anticipated

Adaptive and dynamic meshing methods for numerical simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Acikgoz, Nazmiye

-hoc application of the simulated annealing technique, which improves the likelihood of removing poor elements from the grid. Moreover, a local implementation of the simulated annealing is proposed to reduce the computational cost. Many challenging multi-physics and multi-field problems that are unsteady in nature are characterized by moving boundaries and/or interfaces. When the boundary displacements are large, which typically occurs when implicit time marching procedures are used, degenerate elements are easily formed in the grid such that frequent remeshing is required. To deal with this problem, in the second part of this work, we propose a new r-adaptation methodology. The new technique is valid for both simplicial (e.g., triangular, tet) and non-simplicial (e.g., quadrilateral, hex) deforming grids that undergo large imposed displacements at their boundaries. A two- or three-dimensional grid is deformed using a network of linear springs composed of edge springs and a set of virtual springs. The virtual springs are constructed in such a way as to oppose element collapsing. This is accomplished by confining each vertex to its ball through springs that are attached to the vertex and its projection on the ball entities. The resulting linear problem is solved using a preconditioned conjugate gradient method. The new method is compared with the classical spring analogy technique in two- and three-dimensional examples, highlighting the performance improvements achieved by the new method. Meshes are an important part of numerical simulations. Depending on the geometry and flow conditions, the most suitable mesh for each particular problem is different. Meshes are usually generated by either using a suitable software package or solving a PDE. In both cases, engineering intuition plays a significant role in deciding where clusterings should take place. In addition, for unsteady problems, the gradients vary for each time step, which requires frequent remeshing during simulations

Energy optimization based path selection algorithm for IEEE 802.11s wireless mesh networks

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Mhlanga, MM

2011-09-01

Full Text Available It is everyone’s dream to have network connectivity anywhere at all times. This dream can only be realized provided there are feasible solutions that are put in place for the next generation of wireless works. Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs...

A chimera grid scheme. [multiple overset body-conforming mesh system for finite difference adaptation to complex aircraft configurations

Science.gov (United States)

Steger, J. L.; Dougherty, F. C.; Benek, J. A.

1983-01-01

A mesh system composed of multiple overset body-conforming grids is described for adapting finite-difference procedures to complex aircraft configurations. In this so-called 'chimera mesh,' a major grid is generated about a main component of the configuration and overset minor grids are used to resolve all other features. Methods for connecting overset multiple grids and modifications of flow-simulation algorithms are discussed. Computational tests in two dimensions indicate that the use of multiple overset grids can simplify the task of grid generation without an adverse effect on flow-field algorithms and computer code complexity.

Grouper: a compact, streamable triangle mesh data structure.

Science.gov (United States)

Luffel, Mark; Gurung, Topraj; Lindstrom, Peter; Rossignac, Jarek

2014-01-01

We present Grouper: an all-in-one compact file format, random-access data structure, and streamable representation for large triangle meshes. Similarly to the recently published SQuad representation, Grouper represents the geometry and connectivity of a mesh by grouping vertices and triangles into fixed-size records, most of which store two adjacent triangles and a shared vertex. Unlike SQuad, however, Grouper interleaves geometry with connectivity and uses a new connectivity representation to ensure that vertices and triangles can be stored in a coherent order that enables memory-efficient sequential stream processing. We present a linear-time construction algorithm that allows streaming out Grouper meshes using a small memory footprint while preserving the initial ordering of vertices. As a part of this construction, we show how the problem of assigning vertices and triangles to groups reduces to a well-known NP-hard optimization problem, and present a simple yet effective heuristic solution that performs well in practice. Our array-based Grouper representation also doubles as a triangle mesh data structure that allows direct access to vertices and triangles. Storing only about two integer references per triangle--i.e., less than the three vertex references stored with each triangle in a conventional indexed mesh format--Grouper answers both incidence and adjacency queries in amortized constant time. Our compact representation enables data-parallel processing on multicore computers, instant partitioning and fast transmission for distributed processing, as well as efficient out-of-core access. We demonstrate the versatility and performance benefits of Grouper using a suite of example meshes and processing kernels.

Grouper: A Compact, Streamable Triangle Mesh Data Structure

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Luffel, Mark [Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States). Visualization and Usability Center (GVU); Gurung, Topraj [Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States). Visualization and Usability Center (GVU); Lindstrom, Peter [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Rossignac, Jarek [Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States). Visualization and Usability Center (GVU)

2014-01-01

Here, we present Grouper: an all-in-one compact file format, random-access data structure, and streamable representation for large triangle meshes. Similarly to the recently published SQuad representation, Grouper represents the geometry and connectivity of a mesh by grouping vertices and triangles into fixed-size records, most of which store two adjacent triangles and a shared vertex. Unlike SQuad, however, Grouper interleaves geometry with connectivity and uses a new connectivity representation to ensure that vertices and triangles can be stored in a coherent order that enables memory-efficient sequential stream processing. We also present a linear-time construction algorithm that allows streaming out Grouper meshes using a small memory footprint while preserving the initial ordering of vertices. In this construction, we show how the problem of assigning vertices and triangles to groups reduces to a well-known NP-hard optimization problem, and present a simple yet effective heuristic solution that performs well in practice. Our array-based Grouper representation also doubles as a triangle mesh data structure that allows direct access to vertices and triangles. Storing only about two integer references per triangle-i.e., less than the three vertex references stored with each triangle in a conventional indexed mesh format-Grouper answers both incidence and adjacency queries in amortized constant time. Our compact representation enables data-parallel processing on multicore computers, instant partitioning and fast transmission for distributed processing, as well as efficient out-of-core access. We demonstrate the versatility and performance benefits of Grouper using a suite of example meshes and processing kernels.

Minimum Interference Channel Assignment Algorithm for Multicast in a Wireless Mesh Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sangil Choi

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Wireless mesh networks (WMNs have been considered as one of the key technologies for the configuration of wireless machines since they emerged. In a WMN, wireless routers provide multi-hop wireless connectivity between hosts in the network and also allow them to access the Internet via gateway devices. Wireless routers are typically equipped with multiple radios operating on different channels to increase network throughput. Multicast is a form of communication that delivers data from a source to a set of destinations simultaneously. It is used in a number of applications, such as distributed games, distance education, and video conferencing. In this study, we address a channel assignment problem for multicast in multi-radio multi-channel WMNs. In a multi-radio multi-channel WMN, two nearby nodes will interfere with each other and cause a throughput decrease when they transmit on the same channel. Thus, an important goal for multicast channel assignment is to reduce the interference among networked devices. We have developed a minimum interference channel assignment (MICA algorithm for multicast that accurately models the interference relationship between pairs of multicast tree nodes using the concept of the interference factor and assigns channels to tree nodes to minimize interference within the multicast tree. Simulation results show that MICA achieves higher throughput and lower end-to-end packet delay compared with an existing channel assignment algorithm named multi-channel multicast (MCM. In addition, MICA achieves much lower throughput variation among the destination nodes than MCM.

An optimized routing algorithm for the automated assembly of standard multimode ribbon fibers in a full-mesh optical backplane

Science.gov (United States)

Basile, Vito; Guadagno, Gianluca; Ferrario, Maddalena; Fassi, Irene

2018-03-01

In this paper a parametric, modular and scalable algorithm allowing a fully automated assembly of a backplane fiber-optic interconnection circuit is presented. This approach guarantees the optimization of the optical fiber routing inside the backplane with respect to specific criteria (i.e. bending power losses), addressing both transmission performance and overall costs issues. Graph theory has been exploited to simplify the complexity of the NxN full-mesh backplane interconnection topology, firstly, into N independent sub-circuits and then, recursively, into a limited number of loops easier to be generated. Afterwards, the proposed algorithm selects a set of geometrical and architectural parameters whose optimization allows to identify the optimal fiber optic routing for each sub-circuit of the backplane. The topological and numerical information provided by the algorithm are then exploited to control a robot which performs the automated assembly of the backplane sub-circuits. The proposed routing algorithm can be extended to any array architecture and number of connections thanks to its modularity and scalability. Finally, the algorithm has been exploited for the automated assembly of an 8x8 optical backplane realized with standard multimode (MM) 12-fiber ribbons.

Anisotropic mesh adaptation for marine ice-sheet modelling

Science.gov (United States)

Gillet-Chaulet, Fabien; Tavard, Laure; Merino, Nacho; Peyaud, Vincent; Brondex, Julien; Durand, Gael; Gagliardini, Olivier

2017-04-01

refinement. For transient solutions where the GL is moving, we have implemented an algorithm where the computation is reiterated allowing to anticipate the GL displacement and to adapt the mesh to the transient solution. We discuss the performance and robustness of this algorithm.

Persistent pelvic pain following transvaginal mesh surgery: a cause for mesh removal.

Science.gov (United States)

Marcus-Braun, Naama; Bourret, Antoine; von Theobald, Peter

2012-06-01

Persistent pelvic pain after vaginal mesh surgery is an uncommon but serious complication that greatly affects women's quality of life. Our aim was to evaluate various procedures for mesh removal performed at a tertiary referral center in cases of persistent pelvic pain, and to evaluate the ensuing complications and outcomes. A retrospective study was conducted at the University Hospital of Caen, France, including all patients treated for removal or section of vaginal mesh due to pelvic pain as a primary cause, between January 2004 and September 2009. Ten patients met the inclusion criteria. Patients were diagnosed between 10 months and 3 years after their primary operation. Eight cases followed suburethral sling procedures and two followed mesh surgery for pelvic organ prolapse. Patients presented with obturator neuralgia (6), pudendal neuralgia (2), dyspareunia (1), and non-specific pain (1). The surgical treatment to release the mesh included: three cases of extra-peritoneal laparoscopy, four cases of complete vaginal mesh removal, one case of partial mesh removal and two cases of section of the suburethral sling. In all patients with obturator neuralgia, symptoms were resolved or improved, whereas in both cases of pudendal neuralgia the symptoms continued. There were no intra-operative complications. Post-operative Retzius hematoma was observed in one patient after laparoscopy. Mesh removal in a tertiary center is a safe procedure, necessary in some cases of persistent pelvic pain. Obturator neuralgia seems to be easier to treat than pudendal neuralgia. Early diagnosis is the key to success in prevention of chronic disease. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

An expert system for automatic mesh generation for Sn particle transport simulation in parallel environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Apisit, Patchimpattapong; Alireza, Haghighat; Shedlock, D.

2003-01-01

An expert system for generating an effective mesh distribution for the SN particle transport simulation has been developed. This expert system consists of two main parts: 1) an algorithm for generating an effective mesh distribution in a serial environment, and 2) an algorithm for inference of an effective domain decomposition strategy for parallel computing. For the first part, the algorithm prepares an effective mesh distribution considering problem physics and the spatial differencing scheme. For the second part, the algorithm determines a parallel-performance-index (PPI), which is defined as the ratio of the granularity to the degree-of-coupling. The parallel-performance-index provides expected performance of an algorithm depending on computing environment and resources. A large index indicates a high granularity algorithm with relatively low coupling among processors. This expert system has been successfully tested within the PENTRAN (Parallel Environment Neutral-Particle Transport) code system for simulating real-life shielding problems. (authors)

An expert system for automatic mesh generation for Sn particle transport simulation in parallel environment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Apisit, Patchimpattapong [Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, Office of Corporate Planning, Bangkruai, Nonthaburi (Thailand); Alireza, Haghighat; Shedlock, D. [Florida Univ., Department of Nuclear and Radiological Engineering, Gainesville, FL (United States)

2003-07-01

An expert system for generating an effective mesh distribution for the SN particle transport simulation has been developed. This expert system consists of two main parts: 1) an algorithm for generating an effective mesh distribution in a serial environment, and 2) an algorithm for inference of an effective domain decomposition strategy for parallel computing. For the first part, the algorithm prepares an effective mesh distribution considering problem physics and the spatial differencing scheme. For the second part, the algorithm determines a parallel-performance-index (PPI), which is defined as the ratio of the granularity to the degree-of-coupling. The parallel-performance-index provides expected performance of an algorithm depending on computing environment and resources. A large index indicates a high granularity algorithm with relatively low coupling among processors. This expert system has been successfully tested within the PENTRAN (Parallel Environment Neutral-Particle Transport) code system for simulating real-life shielding problems. (authors)

Moving mesh generation with a sequential approach for solving PDEs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

In moving mesh methods, physical PDEs and a mesh equation derived from equidistribution of an error metrics (so-called the monitor function) are simultaneously solved and meshes are dynamically concentrated on steep regions (Lim et al., 2001). However, the simultaneous solution procedure...... a simple and robust moving mesh algorithm in one or multidimension. In this study, we propose a sequential solution procedure including two separate parts: prediction step to obtain an approximate solution to a next time level (integration of physical PDEs) and regriding step at the next time level (mesh...... generation and solution interpolation). Convection terms, which appear in physical PDEs and a mesh equation, are discretized by a WENO (Weighted Essentially Non-Oscillatory) scheme under the consrvative form. This sequential approach is to keep the advantages of robustness and simplicity for the static...

How to model wireless mesh networks topology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sanni, M L; Hashim, A A; Anwar, F; Ali, S; Ahmed, G S M

2013-01-01

The specification of network connectivity model or topology is the beginning of design and analysis in Computer Network researches. Wireless Mesh Networks is an autonomic network that is dynamically self-organised, self-configured while the mesh nodes establish automatic connectivity with the adjacent nodes in the relay network of wireless backbone routers. Researches in Wireless Mesh Networks range from node deployment to internetworking issues with sensor, Internet and cellular networks. These researches require modelling of relationships and interactions among nodes including technical characteristics of the links while satisfying the architectural requirements of the physical network. However, the existing topology generators model geographic topologies which constitute different architectures, thus may not be suitable in Wireless Mesh Networks scenarios. The existing methods of topology generation are explored, analysed and parameters for their characterisation are identified. Furthermore, an algorithm for the design of Wireless Mesh Networks topology based on square grid model is proposed in this paper. The performance of the topology generated is also evaluated. This research is particularly important in the generation of a close-to-real topology for ensuring relevance of design to the intended network and validity of results obtained in Wireless Mesh Networks researches

Ordering schemes for parallel processing of certain mesh problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

O'Leary, D.

1984-01-01

In this work, some ordering schemes for mesh points are presented which enable algorithms such as the Gauss-Seidel or SOR iteration to be performed efficiently for the nine-point operator finite difference method on computers consisting of a two-dimensional grid of processors. Convergence results are presented for the discretization of u /SUB xx/ + u /SUB yy/ on a uniform mesh over a square, showing that the spectral radius of the iteration for these orderings is no worse than that for the standard row by row ordering of mesh points. Further applications of these mesh point orderings to network problems, more general finite difference operators, and picture processing problems are noted

Extension of the mixed dual finite element method to the solution of the SPN transport equation in 2D unstructured geometries composed by arbitrary quadrilaterals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lautard, J.J.; Flumiani, T.

2003-01-01

The mixed dual finite element method is usually used for the resolution of the SPN transport equations (simplified PN equations) in 3D homogenized geometries (composed by homogenized rectangles or hexagons). This method produces fast results with little memory requirements. We have extended the previous method to the treatment of unstructured geometries composed by quadrilaterals (for the moment limited to 2D), allowing us to treat geometries where fuel pins are exactly represented. The iterative resolution of the resulting matrix system is a generalization of the one already developed for the cartesian and the hexagonal geometries. In order to illustrate and to show the efficiency of this method, results on the NEA-C5G7-MOX benchmark are given. The previous benchmark has been extended for the hexagonal geometry and we provide here some results. This method is a first step towards the treatment of pin by pin core calculations without homogenization. The present solver is a prototype. It shows the efficiency of the method and it has to be extended to 3D calculations as well as to exact transport calculations. We also intend to extend the method to the treatment of unstructured geometries composed by quadrilaterals with curved edges (sectors of a circle).The iterative algorithm has yet to be accelerated using multigrid techniques through a coupling with the present homogenized solver (MINOS). In the future, it will be included in the next generation neutronic toolbox DESCARTES currently under development

Mesh Generation via Local Bisection Refinement of Triangulated Grids

Science.gov (United States)

2015-06-01

Science and Technology Organisation DSTO–TR–3095 ABSTRACT This report provides a comprehensive implementation of an unstructured mesh generation method...and Technology Organisation 506 Lorimer St, Fishermans Bend, Victoria 3207, Australia Telephone: 1300 333 362 Facsimile: (03) 9626 7999 c© Commonwealth...their behaviour is critically linked to Maubach’s method and the data structures N and T . The top- level mesh refinement algorithm is also presented

Nearest Neighbour Corner Points Matching Detection Algorithm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhang Changlong

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Accurate detection towards the corners plays an important part in camera calibration. To deal with the instability and inaccuracies of present corner detection algorithm, the nearest neighbour corners match-ing detection algorithms was brought forward. First, it dilates the binary image of the photographed pictures, searches and reserves quadrilateral outline of the image. Second, the blocks which accord with chess-board-corners are classified into a class. If too many blocks in class, it will be deleted; if not, it will be added, and then let the midpoint of the two vertex coordinates be the rough position of corner. At last, it precisely locates the position of the corners. The Experimental results have shown that the algorithm has obvious advantages on accuracy and validity in corner detection, and it can give security for camera calibration in traffic accident measurement.

Mesh association by projection along smoothed-normal-vector fields:association of closed manifolds

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brummelen, van E.H.

2008-01-01

The necessity to associate two geometrically distinct meshes arises in many engineering applications. Current mesh-association algorithms have generally been developed for piecewise-linear geometry approximations, and their extension to the high-order geometry representations corresponding to

New Method for Mesh Moving Based on Radial Basis Function Interpolation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

De Boer, A.; Van der Schoot, M.S.; Bijl, H.

2006-01-01

A new point-by-point mesh movement algorithm is developed for the deformation of unstructured grids. The method is based on using radial basis function, RBFs, to interpolate the displacements of the boundary nodes to the whole flow mesh. A small system of equations has to be solved, only involving

A novel partitioning method for block-structured adaptive meshes

Science.gov (United States)

Fu, Lin; Litvinov, Sergej; Hu, Xiangyu Y.; Adams, Nikolaus A.

2017-07-01

We propose a novel partitioning method for block-structured adaptive meshes utilizing the meshless Lagrangian particle concept. With the observation that an optimum partitioning has high analogy to the relaxation of a multi-phase fluid to steady state, physically motivated model equations are developed to characterize the background mesh topology and are solved by multi-phase smoothed-particle hydrodynamics. In contrast to well established partitioning approaches, all optimization objectives are implicitly incorporated and achieved during the particle relaxation to stationary state. Distinct partitioning sub-domains are represented by colored particles and separated by a sharp interface with a surface tension model. In order to obtain the particle relaxation, special viscous and skin friction models, coupled with a tailored time integration algorithm are proposed. Numerical experiments show that the present method has several important properties: generation of approximately equal-sized partitions without dependence on the mesh-element type, optimized interface communication between distinct partitioning sub-domains, continuous domain decomposition which is physically localized and implicitly incremental. Therefore it is particularly suitable for load-balancing of high-performance CFD simulations.

A novel partitioning method for block-structured adaptive meshes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fu, Lin, E-mail: lin.fu@tum.de; Litvinov, Sergej, E-mail: sergej.litvinov@aer.mw.tum.de; Hu, Xiangyu Y., E-mail: xiangyu.hu@tum.de; Adams, Nikolaus A., E-mail: nikolaus.adams@tum.de

2017-07-15

We propose a novel partitioning method for block-structured adaptive meshes utilizing the meshless Lagrangian particle concept. With the observation that an optimum partitioning has high analogy to the relaxation of a multi-phase fluid to steady state, physically motivated model equations are developed to characterize the background mesh topology and are solved by multi-phase smoothed-particle hydrodynamics. In contrast to well established partitioning approaches, all optimization objectives are implicitly incorporated and achieved during the particle relaxation to stationary state. Distinct partitioning sub-domains are represented by colored particles and separated by a sharp interface with a surface tension model. In order to obtain the particle relaxation, special viscous and skin friction models, coupled with a tailored time integration algorithm are proposed. Numerical experiments show that the present method has several important properties: generation of approximately equal-sized partitions without dependence on the mesh-element type, optimized interface communication between distinct partitioning sub-domains, continuous domain decomposition which is physically localized and implicitly incremental. Therefore it is particularly suitable for load-balancing of high-performance CFD simulations.

Positive Contrast MRI Techniques for Visualization of Iron-Loaded Hernia Mesh Implants in Patients.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexander Ciritsis

Full Text Available In MRI, implants and devices can be delineated via susceptibility artefacts. To discriminate susceptibility voids from proton-free structures, different positive contrast techniques were implemented. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a pulse sequence-based positive contrast technique (PCSI and a post-processing susceptibility gradient mapping algorithm (SGM for visualization of iron loaded mesh implants in patients.Five patients with iron-loaded MR-visible inguinal hernia mesh implants were examined at 1.5 Tesla. A gradient echo sequence (GRE; parameters: TR: 8.3ms; TE: 4.3ms; NSA:2; FA:20°; FOV:350mm² and a PCSI sequence (parameters: TR: 25ms; TE: 4.6ms; NSA:4; FA:20°; FOV:350mm² with on-resonant proton suppression were performed. SGM maps were calculated using two algorithms. Image quality and mesh delineation were independently evaluated by three radiologists.On GRE, the iron-loaded meshes generated distinct susceptibility-induced signal voids. PCSI exhibited susceptibility differences including the meshes as hyperintense signals. SGM exhibited susceptibility differences with positive contrast. Visually, the different algorithms presented no significant differences. Overall, the diagnostic value was rated best in GRE whereas PCSI and SGM were barely "sufficient".Both "positive contrast" techniques depicted implanted meshes with hyperintense signal. SGM comes without additional acquisition time and can therefore be utilized in every patient.

Mesh removal following transvaginal mesh placement: a case series of 104 operations.

Science.gov (United States)

Marcus-Braun, Naama; von Theobald, Peter

2010-04-01

The objective of the study was to reveal the way we treat vaginal mesh complications in a trained referral center. This is a retrospective review of all patients who underwent surgical removal of transvaginal mesh for mesh-related complications during a 5-year period. Eighty-three patients underwent 104 operations including 61 complete mesh removal, 14 partial excision, 15 section of sub-urethral sling, and five laparoscopies. Main indications were erosion, infection, granuloma, incomplete voiding, and pain. Fifty-eight removals occurred more than 2 years after the primary mesh placement. Mean operation time was 21 min, and there were two intraoperative and ten minor postoperative complications. Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) recurred in 38% and cystocele in 19% of patients. In a trained center, mesh removal was found to be a quick and safe procedure. Mesh-related complications may frequently occur more than 2 years after the primary operation. Recurrence was mostly associated with SUI and less with genital prolapse.

Adaptive Fault-Tolerant Routing in 2D Mesh with Cracky Rectangular Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yi Yang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper mainly focuses on routing in two-dimensional mesh networks. We propose a novel faulty block model, which is cracky rectangular block, for fault-tolerant adaptive routing. All the faulty nodes and faulty links are surrounded in this type of block, which is a convex structure, in order to avoid routing livelock. Additionally, the model constructs the interior spanning forest for each block in order to keep in touch with the nodes inside of each block. The procedure for block construction is dynamically and totally distributed. The construction algorithm is simple and ease of implementation. And this is a fully adaptive block which will dynamically adjust its scale in accordance with the situation of networks, either the fault emergence or the fault recovery, without shutdown of the system. Based on this model, we also develop a distributed fault-tolerant routing algorithm. Then we give the formal proof for this algorithm to guarantee that messages will always reach their destinations if and only if the destination nodes keep connecting with these mesh networks. So the new model and routing algorithm maximize the availability of the nodes in networks. This is a noticeable overall improvement of fault tolerability of the system.

Distributed Synchronization Technique for OFDMA-Based Wireless Mesh Networks Using a Bio-Inspired Algorithm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mi Jeong Kim

2015-07-01

Full Text Available In this paper, a distributed synchronization technique based on a bio-inspired algorithm is proposed for an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA-based wireless mesh network (WMN with a time difference of arrival. The proposed time- and frequency-synchronization technique uses only the signals received from the neighbor nodes, by considering the effect of the propagation delay between the nodes. It achieves a fast synchronization with a relatively low computational complexity because it is operated in a distributed manner, not requiring any feedback channel for the compensation of the propagation delays. In addition, a self-organization scheme that can be effectively used to construct 1-hop neighbor nodes is proposed for an OFDMA-based WMN with a large number of nodes. The performance of the proposed technique is evaluated with regard to the convergence property and synchronization success probability using a computer simulation.

Distributed Synchronization Technique for OFDMA-Based Wireless Mesh Networks Using a Bio-Inspired Algorithm.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Mi Jeong; Maeng, Sung Joon; Cho, Yong Soo

2015-07-28

In this paper, a distributed synchronization technique based on a bio-inspired algorithm is proposed for an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA)-based wireless mesh network (WMN) with a time difference of arrival. The proposed time- and frequency-synchronization technique uses only the signals received from the neighbor nodes, by considering the effect of the propagation delay between the nodes. It achieves a fast synchronization with a relatively low computational complexity because it is operated in a distributed manner, not requiring any feedback channel for the compensation of the propagation delays. In addition, a self-organization scheme that can be effectively used to construct 1-hop neighbor nodes is proposed for an OFDMA-based WMN with a large number of nodes. The performance of the proposed technique is evaluated with regard to the convergence property and synchronization success probability using a computer simulation.

Mesh Association by Projection along Smoothed-Normal-Vector Fields : Association of Closed Manifolds

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Van Brummelen, E.H.

2006-01-01

The necessity to associate two geometrically distinct meshes arises in many engineering applications. Current mesh-association algorithms are generally unsuitable for the high-order geometry representations associated with high-order finite-element discretizations. In the present work we therefore

Molecular surface mesh generation by filtering electron density map.

Science.gov (United States)

Giard, Joachim; Macq, Benoît

2010-01-01

Bioinformatics applied to macromolecules are now widely spread and in continuous expansion. In this context, representing external molecular surface such as the Van der Waals Surface or the Solvent Excluded Surface can be useful for several applications. We propose a fast and parameterizable algorithm giving good visual quality meshes representing molecular surfaces. It is obtained by isosurfacing a filtered electron density map. The density map is the result of the maximum of Gaussian functions placed around atom centers. This map is filtered by an ideal low-pass filter applied on the Fourier Transform of the density map. Applying the marching cubes algorithm on the inverse transform provides a mesh representation of the molecular surface.

Molecular Surface Mesh Generation by Filtering Electron Density Map

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joachim Giard

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Bioinformatics applied to macromolecules are now widely spread and in continuous expansion. In this context, representing external molecular surface such as the Van der Waals Surface or the Solvent Excluded Surface can be useful for several applications. We propose a fast and parameterizable algorithm giving good visual quality meshes representing molecular surfaces. It is obtained by isosurfacing a filtered electron density map. The density map is the result of the maximum of Gaussian functions placed around atom centers. This map is filtered by an ideal low-pass filter applied on the Fourier Transform of the density map. Applying the marching cubes algorithm on the inverse transform provides a mesh representation of the molecular surface.

A general boundary capability embedded in an orthogonal mesh

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hewett, D.W.; Yu-Jiuan Chen

1995-01-01

The authors describe how they hold onto orthogonal mesh discretization when dealing with curved boundaries. Special difference operators were constructed to approximate numerical zones split by the domain boundary; the operators are particularly simple for this rectangular mesh. The authors demonstrated that this simple numerical approach, termed Dynamic Alternating Direction Implicit, turned out to be considerably more efficient than more complex grid-adaptive algorithms that were tried previously

2D automatic body-fitted structured mesh generation using advancing extraction method

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yaoxin; Jia, Yafei

2018-01-01

This paper presents an automatic mesh generation algorithm for body-fitted structured meshes in Computational Fluids Dynamics (CFD) analysis using the Advancing Extraction Method (AEM). The method is applicable to two-dimensional domains with complex geometries, which have the hierarchical tree-like topography with extrusion-like structures (i.e., branches or tributaries) and intrusion-like structures (i.e., peninsula or dikes). With the AEM, the hierarchical levels of sub-domains can be identified, and the block boundary of each sub-domain in convex polygon shape in each level can be extracted in an advancing scheme. In this paper, several examples were used to illustrate the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed algorithm for automatic structured mesh generation, and the implementation of the method.

An Efficient Approach for Solving Mesh Optimization Problems Using Newton’s Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jibum Kim

2014-01-01

Full Text Available We present an efficient approach for solving various mesh optimization problems. Our approach is based on Newton’s method, which uses both first-order (gradient and second-order (Hessian derivatives of the nonlinear objective function. The volume and surface mesh optimization algorithms are developed such that mesh validity and surface constraints are satisfied. We also propose several Hessian modification methods when the Hessian matrix is not positive definite. We demonstrate our approach by comparing our method with nonlinear conjugate gradient and steepest descent methods in terms of both efficiency and mesh quality.

Isotropic 2D quadrangle meshing with size and orientation control

KAUST Repository

Pellenard, Bertrand

2011-12-01

We propose an approach for automatically generating isotropic 2D quadrangle meshes from arbitrary domains with a fine control over sizing and orientation of the elements. At the heart of our algorithm is an optimization procedure that, from a coarse initial tiling of the 2D domain, enforces each of the desirable mesh quality criteria (size, shape, orientation, degree, regularity) one at a time, in an order designed not to undo previous enhancements. Our experiments demonstrate how well our resulting quadrangle meshes conform to a wide range of input sizing and orientation fields.

Comparison of computed tomography based parametric and patient-specific finite element models of the healthy and metastatic spine using a mesh-morphing algorithm.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Reilly, Meaghan Anne; Whyne, Cari Marisa

2008-08-01

A comparative analysis of parametric and patient-specific finite element (FE) modeling of spinal motion segments. To develop patient-specific FE models of spinal motion segments using mesh-morphing methods applied to a parametric FE model. To compare strain and displacement patterns in parametric and morphed models for both healthy and metastatically involved vertebrae. Parametric FE models may be limited in their ability to fully represent patient-specific geometries and material property distributions. Generation of multiple patient-specific FE models has been limited because of computational expense. Morphing methods have been successfully used to generate multiple specimen-specific FE models of caudal rat vertebrae. FE models of a healthy and a metastatic T6-T8 spinal motion segment were analyzed with and without patient-specific material properties. Parametric and morphed models were compared using a landmark-based morphing algorithm. Morphing of the parametric FE model and including patient-specific material properties both had a strong impact on magnitudes and patterns of vertebral strain and displacement. Small but important geometric differences can be represented through morphing of parametric FE models. The mesh-morphing algorithm developed provides a rapid method for generating patient-specific FE models of spinal motion segments.

A novel three-dimensional mesh deformation method based on sphere relaxation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou, Xuan; Li, Shuixiang

2015-01-01

In our previous work (2013) [19], we developed a disk relaxation based mesh deformation method for two-dimensional mesh deformation. In this paper, the idea of the disk relaxation is extended to the sphere relaxation for three-dimensional meshes with large deformations. We develop a node based pre-displacement procedure to apply initial movements on nodes according to their layer indices. Afterwards, the nodes are moved locally by the improved sphere relaxation algorithm to transfer boundary deformations and increase the mesh quality. A three-dimensional mesh smoothing method is also adopted to prevent the occurrence of the negative volume of elements, and further improve the mesh quality. Numerical applications in three-dimension including the wing rotation, bending beam and morphing aircraft are carried out. The results demonstrate that the sphere relaxation based approach generates the deformed mesh with high quality, especially regarding complex boundaries and large deformations

A novel three-dimensional mesh deformation method based on sphere relaxation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhou, Xuan [Department of Mechanics & Engineering Science, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 (China); Institute of Applied Physics and Computational Mathematics, Beijing, 100094 (China); Li, Shuixiang, E-mail: lsx@pku.edu.cn [Department of Mechanics & Engineering Science, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 (China)

2015-10-01

In our previous work (2013) [19], we developed a disk relaxation based mesh deformation method for two-dimensional mesh deformation. In this paper, the idea of the disk relaxation is extended to the sphere relaxation for three-dimensional meshes with large deformations. We develop a node based pre-displacement procedure to apply initial movements on nodes according to their layer indices. Afterwards, the nodes are moved locally by the improved sphere relaxation algorithm to transfer boundary deformations and increase the mesh quality. A three-dimensional mesh smoothing method is also adopted to prevent the occurrence of the negative volume of elements, and further improve the mesh quality. Numerical applications in three-dimension including the wing rotation, bending beam and morphing aircraft are carried out. The results demonstrate that the sphere relaxation based approach generates the deformed mesh with high quality, especially regarding complex boundaries and large deformations.

Simple pragmatic approach to mesh routing using BATMAN

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Johnson, D

2008-10-01

Full Text Available realisation that a routing algorithm for a large static mesh needs to be developed from first principles and as a result the BATMAN project was started. In BATMAN all nodes periodically broadcasts hello packets, also known as originator messages, to its... not have. OLSR was used with the following settings • HELLO interval = 1 second. • Topology Control (TC) interval = 1 second. • HELLO validity interval = 200 seconds. • TC validity interval = 100 seconds. • Fisheye = ON (TC messages are sent with 3...

Fitting polynomial surfaces to triangular meshes with Voronoi squared distance minimization

KAUST Repository

Nivoliers, Vincent

2012-11-06

This paper introduces Voronoi squared distance minimization (VSDM), an algorithm that fits a surface to an input mesh. VSDM minimizes an objective function that corresponds to a Voronoi-based approximation of the overall squared distance function between the surface and the input mesh (SDM). This objective function is a generalization of the one minimized by centroidal Voronoi tessellation, and can be minimized by a quasi-Newton solver. VSDM naturally adapts the orientation of the mesh elements to best approximate the input, without estimating any differential quantities. Therefore, it can be applied to triangle soups or surfaces with degenerate triangles, topological noise and sharp features. Applications of fitting quad meshes and polynomial surfaces to input triangular meshes are demonstrated. © 2012 Springer-Verlag London.

Surgical management of lower urinary mesh perforation after mid-urethral polypropylene mesh sling: mesh excision, urinary tract reconstruction and concomitant pubovaginal sling with autologous rectus fascia.

Science.gov (United States)

Shah, Ketul; Nikolavsky, Dmitriy; Gilsdorf, Daniel; Flynn, Brian J

2013-12-01

We present our management of lower urinary tract (LUT) mesh perforation after mid-urethral polypropylene mesh sling using a novel combination of surgical techniques including total or near total mesh excision, urinary tract reconstruction, and concomitant pubovaginal sling with autologous rectus fascia in a single operation. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 189 patients undergoing transvaginal removal of polypropylene mesh from the lower urinary tract or vagina. The focus of this study is 21 patients with LUT mesh perforation after mid-urethral polypropylene mesh sling. We excluded patients with LUT mesh perforation from prolapse kits (n = 4) or sutures (n = 11), or mesh that was removed because of isolated vaginal wall exposure without concomitant LUT perforation (n = 164). Twenty-one patients underwent surgical removal of mesh through a transvaginal approach or combined transvaginal/abdominal approaches. The location of the perforation was the urethra in 14 and the bladder in 7. The mean follow-up was 22 months. There were no major intraoperative complications. All patients had complete resolution of the mesh complication and the primary symptom. Of the patients with urethral perforation, continence was achieved in 10 out of 14 (71.5 %). Of the patients with bladder perforation, continence was achieved in all 7. Total or near total removal of lower urinary tract (LUT) mesh perforation after mid-urethral polypropylene mesh sling can completely resolve LUT mesh perforation in a single operation. A concomitant pubovaginal sling can be safely performed in efforts to treat existing SUI or avoid future surgery for SUI.

Deploy production sliding mesh capability with linear solver benchmarking.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Domino, Stefan P. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Thomas, Stephen [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Barone, Matthew F. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Williams, Alan B. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Ananthan, Shreyas [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Knaus, Robert C. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Overfelt, James [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Sprague, Mike [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Rood, Jon [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2018-02-01

Wind applications require the ability to simulate rotating blades. To support this use-case, a novel design-order sliding mesh algorithm has been developed and deployed. The hybrid method combines the control volume finite element methodology (CVFEM) with concepts found within a discontinuous Galerkin (DG) finite element method (FEM) to manage a sliding mesh. The method has been demonstrated to be design-order for the tested polynomial basis (P=1 and P=2) and has been deployed to provide production simulation capability for a Vestas V27 (225 kW) wind turbine. Other stationary and canonical rotating ow simulations are also presented. As the majority of wind-energy applications are driving extensive usage of hybrid meshes, a foundational study that outlines near-wall numerical behavior for a variety of element topologies is presented. Results indicate that the proposed nonlinear stabilization operator (NSO) is an effective stabilization methodology to control Gibbs phenomena at large cell Peclet numbers. The study also provides practical mesh resolution guidelines for future analysis efforts. Application-driven performance and algorithmic improvements have been carried out to increase robustness of the scheme on hybrid production wind energy meshes. Specifically, the Kokkos-based Nalu Kernel construct outlined in the FY17/Q4 ExaWind milestone has been transitioned to the hybrid mesh regime. This code base is exercised within a full V27 production run. Simulation timings for parallel search and custom ghosting are presented. As the low-Mach application space requires implicit matrix solves, the cost of matrix reinitialization has been evaluated on a variety of production meshes. Results indicate that at low element counts, i.e., fewer than 100 million elements, matrix graph initialization and preconditioner setup times are small. However, as mesh sizes increase, e.g., 500 million elements, simulation time associated with \\setup-up" costs can increase to nearly 50% of

Development of a Two-Phase Flow Analysis Code based on a Unstructured-Mesh SIMPLE Algorithm

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Jong Tae; Park, Ik Kyu; Cho, Heong Kyu; Yoon, Han Young; Kim, Kyung Doo; Jeong, Jae Jun

2008-09-15

For analyses of multi-phase flows in a water-cooled nuclear power plant, a three-dimensional SIMPLE-algorithm based hydrodynamic solver CUPID-S has been developed. As governing equations, it adopts a two-fluid three-field model for the two-phase flows. The three fields represent a continuous liquid, a dispersed droplets, and a vapour field. The governing equations are discretized by a finite volume method on an unstructured grid to handle the geometrical complexity of the nuclear reactors. The phasic momentum equations are coupled and solved with a sparse block Gauss-Seidel matrix solver to increase a numerical stability. The pressure correction equation derived by summing the phasic volume fraction equations is applied on the unstructured mesh in the context of a cell-centered co-located scheme. This paper presents the numerical method and the preliminary results of the calculations.

Parallel octree-based hexahedral mesh generation for eulerian to lagrangian conversion.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Staten, Matthew L.; Owen, Steven James

2010-09-01

Computational simulation must often be performed on domains where materials are represented as scalar quantities or volume fractions at cell centers of an octree-based grid. Common examples include bio-medical, geotechnical or shock physics calculations where interface boundaries are represented only as discrete statistical approximations. In this work, we introduce new methods for generating Lagrangian computational meshes from Eulerian-based data. We focus specifically on shock physics problems that are relevant to ASC codes such as CTH and Alegra. New procedures for generating all-hexahedral finite element meshes from volume fraction data are introduced. A new primal-contouring approach is introduced for defining a geometric domain. New methods for refinement, node smoothing, resolving non-manifold conditions and defining geometry are also introduced as well as an extension of the algorithm to handle tetrahedral meshes. We also describe new scalable MPI-based implementations of these procedures. We describe a new software module, Sculptor, which has been developed for use as an embedded component of CTH. We also describe its interface and its use within the mesh generation code, CUBIT. Several examples are shown to illustrate the capabilities of Sculptor.

Solid Mesh Registration for Radiotherapy Treatment Planning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Noe, Karsten Østergaard; Sørensen, Thomas Sangild

2010-01-01

We present an algorithm for solid organ registration of pre-segmented data represented as tetrahedral meshes. Registration of the organ surface is driven by force terms based on a distance field representation of the source and reference shapes. Registration of internal morphology is achieved usi...

Mesh optimization for microbial fuel cell cathodes constructed around stainless steel mesh current collectors

KAUST Repository

Zhang, Fang

2011-02-01

Mesh current collectors made of stainless steel (SS) can be integrated into microbial fuel cell (MFC) cathodes constructed of a reactive carbon black and Pt catalyst mixture and a poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) diffusion layer. It is shown here that the mesh properties of these cathodes can significantly affect performance. Cathodes made from the coarsest mesh (30-mesh) achieved the highest maximum power of 1616 ± 25 mW m-2 (normalized to cathode projected surface area; 47.1 ± 0.7 W m-3 based on liquid volume), while the finest mesh (120-mesh) had the lowest power density (599 ± 57 mW m-2). Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy showed that charge transfer and diffusion resistances decreased with increasing mesh opening size. In MFC tests, the cathode performance was primarily limited by reaction kinetics, and not mass transfer. Oxygen permeability increased with mesh opening size, accounting for the decreased diffusion resistance. At higher current densities, diffusion became a limiting factor, especially for fine mesh with low oxygen transfer coefficients. These results demonstrate the critical nature of the mesh size used for constructing MFC cathodes. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Opfront: mesh

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2015-01-01

Mesh generation and visualization software based on the CGAL library. Folder content: drawmesh Visualize slices of the mesh (surface/volumetric) as wireframe on top of an image (3D). drawsurf Visualize surfaces of the mesh (surface/volumetric). img2mesh Convert isosurface in image to volumetric m...... mesh (medit format). img2off Convert isosurface in image to surface mesh (off format). off2mesh Convert surface mesh (off format) to volumetric mesh (medit format). reduce Crop and resize 3D and stacks of images. data Example data to test the library on...

Discrete Surface Evolution and Mesh Deformation for Aircraft Icing Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, David; Tong, Xiaoling; Arnoldus, Qiuhan; Collins, Eric; McLaurin, David; Luke, Edward; Bidwell, Colin S.

2013-01-01

Robust, automated mesh generation for problems with deforming geometries, such as ice accreting on aerodynamic surfaces, remains a challenging problem. Here we describe a technique to deform a discrete surface as it evolves due to the accretion of ice. The surface evolution algorithm is based on a smoothed, face-offsetting approach. We also describe a fast algebraic technique to propagate the computed surface deformations into the surrounding volume mesh while maintaining geometric mesh quality. Preliminary results presented here demonstrate the ecacy of the approach for a sphere with a prescribed accretion rate, a rime ice accretion, and a more complex glaze ice accretion.

Expected Transmission Energy Route Metric for Wireless Mesh Senor Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

YanLiang Jin

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Mesh is a network topology that achieves high throughput and stable intercommunication. With great potential, it is expected to be the key architecture of future networks. Wireless sensor networks are an active research area with numerous workshops and conferences arranged each year. The overall performance of a WSN highly depends on the energy consumption of the network. This paper designs a new routing metric for wireless mesh sensor networks. Results from simulation experiments reveal that the new metric algorithm improves the energy balance of the whole network and extends the lifetime of wireless mesh sensor networks (WMSNs.

An Efficient Mesh Generation Method for Fractured Network System Based on Dynamic Grid Deformation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shuli Sun

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Meshing quality of the discrete model influences the accuracy, convergence, and efficiency of the solution for fractured network system in geological problem. However, modeling and meshing of such a fractured network system are usually tedious and difficult due to geometric complexity of the computational domain induced by existence and extension of fractures. The traditional meshing method to deal with fractures usually involves boundary recovery operation based on topological transformation, which relies on many complicated techniques and skills. This paper presents an alternative and efficient approach for meshing fractured network system. The method firstly presets points on fractures and then performs Delaunay triangulation to obtain preliminary mesh by point-by-point centroid insertion algorithm. Then the fractures are exactly recovered by local correction with revised dynamic grid deformation approach. Smoothing algorithm is finally applied to improve the quality of mesh. The proposed approach is efficient, easy to implement, and applicable to the cases of initial existing fractures and extension of fractures. The method is successfully applied to modeling of two- and three-dimensional discrete fractured network (DFN system in geological problems to demonstrate its effectiveness and high efficiency.

Strategies in edge plasma simulation using adaptive dynamic nodalization techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kainz, A.; Weimann, G.; Kamelander, G.

2003-01-01

A wide span of steady-state and transient edge plasma processes simulation problems require accurate discretization techniques and can then be treated with Finite Element (FE) and Finite Volume (FV) methods. The software used here to meet these meshing requirements is a 2D finite element grid generator. It allows to produce adaptive unstructured grids taking into consideration the flux surface characteristics. To comply with the common mesh handling features of FE/FV packages, some options have been added to the basic generation tool. These enhancements include quadrilateral meshes without non-regular transition elements obtained by substituting them by transition constructions consisting of regular quadrilateral elements. Furthermore triangular grids can be created with one edge parallel to the magnetic field and modified by the basic adaptation/realignment techniques. Enhanced code operation properties and processing capabilities are expected. (author)

Energy mesh optimization for multi-level calculation schemes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mosca, P.; Taofiki, A.; Bellier, P.; Prevost, A.

2011-01-01

The industrial calculations of third generation nuclear reactors are based on sophisticated strategies of homogenization and collapsing at different spatial and energetic levels. An important issue to ensure the quality of these calculation models is the choice of the collapsing energy mesh. In this work, we show a new approach to generate optimized energy meshes starting from the SHEM 281-group library. The optimization model is applied on 1D cylindrical cells and consists of finding an energy mesh which minimizes the errors between two successive collision probability calculations. The former is realized over the fine SHEM mesh with Livolant-Jeanpierre self-shielded cross sections and the latter is performed with collapsed cross sections over the energy mesh being optimized. The optimization is done by the particle swarm algorithm implemented in the code AEMC and multigroup flux solutions are obtained from standard APOLLO2 solvers. By this new approach, a set of new optimized meshes which encompass from 10 to 50 groups has been defined for PWR and BWR calculations. This set will allow users to adapt the energy detail of the solution to the complexity of the calculation (assembly, multi-assembly, two-dimensional whole core). Some preliminary verifications, in which the accuracy of the new meshes is measured compared to a direct 281-group calculation, show that the 30-group optimized mesh offers a good compromise between simulation time and accuracy for a standard 17 x 17 UO 2 assembly with and without control rods. (author)

Discontinuous diffusion synthetic acceleration for Sn transport on 2D arbitrary polygonal meshes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Turcksin, Bruno; Ragusa, Jean C.

2014-01-01

In this paper, a Diffusion Synthetic Acceleration (DSA) technique applied to the S n radiation transport equation is developed using Piece-Wise Linear Discontinuous (PWLD) finite elements on arbitrary polygonal grids. The discretization of the DSA equations employs an Interior Penalty technique, as is classically done for the stabilization of the diffusion equation using discontinuous finite element approximations. The penalty method yields a system of linear equations that is Symmetric Positive Definite (SPD). Thus, solution techniques such as Preconditioned Conjugate Gradient (PCG) can be effectively employed. Algebraic MultiGrid (AMG) and Symmetric Gauss–Seidel (SGS) are employed as conjugate gradient preconditioners for the DSA system. AMG is shown to be significantly more efficient than SGS. Fourier analyses are carried out and we show that this discontinuous finite element DSA scheme is always stable and effective at reducing the spectral radius for iterative transport solves, even for grids with high-aspect ratio cells. Numerical results are presented for different grid types: quadrilateral, hexagonal, and polygonal grids as well as grids with local mesh adaptivity

On randomized algorithms for numerical solution of applied Fredholm integral equations of the second kind

Science.gov (United States)

Voytishek, Anton V.; Shipilov, Nikolay M.

2017-11-01

In this paper, the systematization of numerical (implemented on a computer) randomized functional algorithms for approximation of a solution of Fredholm integral equation of the second kind is carried out. Wherein, three types of such algorithms are distinguished: the projection, the mesh and the projection-mesh methods. The possibilities for usage of these algorithms for solution of practically important problems is investigated in detail. The disadvantages of the mesh algorithms, related to the necessity of calculation values of the kernels of integral equations in fixed points, are identified. On practice, these kernels have integrated singularities, and calculation of their values is impossible. Thus, for applied problems, related to solving Fredholm integral equation of the second kind, it is expedient to use not mesh, but the projection and the projection-mesh randomized algorithms.

Automated hexahedral mesh generation from biomedical image data: applications in limb prosthetics.

Science.gov (United States)

Zachariah, S G; Sanders, J E; Turkiyyah, G M

1996-06-01

A general method to generate hexahedral meshes for finite element analysis of residual limbs and similar biomedical geometries is presented. The method utilizes skeleton-based subdivision of cross-sectional domains to produce simple subdomains in which structured meshes are easily generated. Application to a below-knee residual limb and external prosthetic socket is described. The residual limb was modeled as consisting of bones, soft tissue, and skin. The prosthetic socket model comprised a socket wall with an inner liner. The geometries of these structures were defined using axial cross-sectional contour data from X-ray computed tomography, optical scanning, and mechanical surface digitization. A tubular surface representation, using B-splines to define the directrix and generator, is shown to be convenient for definition of the structure geometries. Conversion of cross-sectional data to the compact tubular surface representation is direct, and the analytical representation simplifies geometric querying and numerical optimization within the mesh generation algorithms. The element meshes remain geometrically accurate since boundary nodes are constrained to lie on the tubular surfaces. Several element meshes of increasing mesh density were generated for two residual limbs and prosthetic sockets. Convergence testing demonstrated that approximately 19 elements are required along a circumference of the residual limb surface for a simple linear elastic model. A model with the fibula absent compared with the same geometry with the fibula present showed differences suggesting higher distal stresses in the absence of the fibula. Automated hexahedral mesh generation algorithms for sliced data represent an advancement in prosthetic stress analysis since they allow rapid modeling of any given residual limb and optimization of mesh parameters.

High throughput route selection in multi-rate wireless mesh networks

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

WEI Yi-fei; GUO Xiang-li; SONG Mei; SONG Jun-de

2008-01-01

Most existing Ad-hoc routing protocols use the shortest path algorithm with a hop count metric to select paths. It is appropriate in single-rate wireless networks, but has a tendency to select paths containing long-distance links that have low data rates and reduced reliability in multi-rate networks. This article introduces a high throughput routing algorithm utilizing the multi-rate capability and some mesh characteristics in wireless fidelity (WiFi) mesh networks. It uses the medium access control (MAC) transmission time as the routing metric, which is estimated by the information passed up from the physical layer. When the proposed algorithm is adopted, the Ad-hoc on-demand distance vector (AODV) routing can be improved as high throughput AODV (HT-AODV). Simulation results show that HT-AODV is capable of establishing a route that has high data-rate, short end-to-end delay and great network throughput.

An efficient approach to unstructured mesh hydrodynamics on the cell broadband engine

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ferenbaugh, Charles R [Los Alamos National Laboratory

2010-01-01

Unstructured mesh physics for the Cell Broadband Engine (CBE) has received little or no attention to date, largely because the CBE architecture poses particular challenges for unstructured mesh algorithms. The most common SPU memory management strategies cannot be applied to the irregular memory access patterns of unstructured meshes, and the SPU vector instruction set does not support the indirect addressing needed by connectivity arrays. This paper presents an approach to unstructured mesh physics that addresses these challenges, by creating a new mesh data structure and reorganizing code to give efficient CBE performance. The approach is demonstrated on the FLAG production hydrodynamics code using standard test problems, and results show an average speedup of more than 5x over the original code.

Cartesian anisotropic mesh adaptation for compressible flow

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Keats, W.A.; Lien, F.-S.

2004-01-01

Simulating transient compressible flows involving shock waves presents challenges to the CFD practitioner in terms of the mesh quality required to resolve discontinuities and prevent smearing. This paper discusses a novel two-dimensional Cartesian anisotropic mesh adaptation technique implemented for compressible flow. This technique, developed for laminar flow by Ham, Lien and Strong, is efficient because it refines and coarsens cells using criteria that consider the solution in each of the cardinal directions separately. In this paper the method will be applied to compressible flow. The procedure shows promise in its ability to deliver good quality solutions while achieving computational savings. The convection scheme used is the Advective Upstream Splitting Method (Plus), and the refinement/ coarsening criteria are based on work done by Ham et al. Transient shock wave diffraction over a backward step and shock reflection over a forward step are considered as test cases because they demonstrate that the quality of the solution can be maintained as the mesh is refined and coarsened in time. The data structure is explained in relation to the computational mesh, and the object-oriented design and implementation of the code is presented. Refinement and coarsening algorithms are outlined. Computational savings over uniform and isotropic mesh approaches are shown to be significant. (author)

Early experience with mesh excision for adverse outcomes after transvaginal mesh placement using prolapse kits.

Science.gov (United States)

Ridgeway, Beri; Walters, Mark D; Paraiso, Marie Fidela R; Barber, Matthew D; McAchran, Sarah E; Goldman, Howard B; Jelovsek, J Eric

2008-12-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the complications, treatments, and outcomes in patients choosing to undergo removal of mesh previously placed with a mesh procedural kit. This was a retrospective review of all patients who underwent surgical removal of transvaginal mesh for mesh-related complications during a 3-year period at Cleveland Clinic. At last follow-up, patients reported degree of pain, level of improvement, sexual activity, and continued symptoms. Nineteen patients underwent removal of mesh during the study period. Indications for removal included chronic pain (6/19), dyspareunia (6/19), recurrent pelvic organ prolapse (8/19), mesh erosion (12/19), and vesicovaginal fistula (3/19), with most patients (16/19) citing more than 1 reason. There were few complications related to the mesh removal. Most patients reported significant relief of symptoms. Mesh removal can be technically difficult but appears to be safe with few complications and high relief of symptoms, although some symptoms can persist.

Mesh Excision: Is Total Mesh Excision Necessary?

Science.gov (United States)

Wolff, Gillian F; Winters, J Christian; Krlin, Ryan M

2016-04-01

Nearly 29% of women will undergo a secondary, repeat operation for pelvic organ prolapse (POP) symptom recurrence following a primary repair, as reported by Abbott et al. (Am J Obstet Gynecol 210:163.e1-163.e1, 2014). In efforts to decrease the rates of failure, graft materials have been utilized to augment transvaginal repairs. Following the success of using polypropylene mesh (PPM) for stress urinary incontinence (SUI), the use of PPM in the transvaginal repair of POP increased. However, in recent years, significant concerns have been raised about the safety of PPM mesh. Complications, some specific to mesh, such as exposures, erosion, dyspareunia, and pelvic pain, have been reported with increased frequency. In the current literature, there is not substantive evidence to suggest that PPM has intrinsic properties that warrant total mesh removal in the absence of complications. There are a number of complications that can occur after transvaginal mesh placement that do warrant surgical intervention after failure of conservative therapy. In aggregate, there are no high-quality controlled studies that clearly demonstrate that total mesh removal is consistently more likely to achieve pain reduction. In the cases of obstruction and erosion, it seems clear that definitive removal of the offending mesh is associated with resolution of symptoms in the majority of cases and reasonable practice. There are a number of complications that can occur with removal of mesh, and patients should be informed of this as they formulate a choice of treatment. We will review these considerations as we examine the clinical question of whether total versus partial removal of mesh is necessary for the resolution of complications following transvaginal mesh placement.

802.11s Wireless Mesh Network Visualization Application

Science.gov (United States)

Mauldin, James Alexander

2014-01-01

Results of past experimentation at NASA Johnson Space Center showed that the IEEE 802.11s standard has better performance than the widely implemented alternative protocol B.A.T.M.A.N (Better Approach to Mobile Ad hoc Networking). 802.11s is now formally incorporated into the Wi- Fi 802.11-2012 standard, which specifies a hybrid wireless mesh networking protocol (HWMP). In order to quickly analyze changes to the routing algorithm and to support optimizing the mesh network behavior for our intended application a visualization tool was developed by modifying and integrating open source tools.

An efficient approach to unstructured mesh hydrodynamics on the cell broadband engine (u)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ferenbaugh, Charles R [Los Alamos National Laboratory

2010-12-14

Unstructured mesh physics for the Cell Broadband Engine (CBE) has received little or no attention to date, largely because the CBE architecture poses particular challenges for unstructured mesh algorithms. SPU memory management strategies such as data preloading cannot be applied to the irregular memory storage patterns of unstructured meshes; and the SPU vector instruction set does not support the indirect addressing needed by connectivity arrays. This paper presents an approach to unstructured mesh physics that addresses these challenges, by creating a new mesh data structure and reorganizing code to give efficient CBE performance. The approach is demonstrated on the FLAG production hydrodynamics code using standard test problems, and results show an average speedup of more than 5x over the original code.

Mesh erosion after abdominal sacrocolpopexy.

Science.gov (United States)

Kohli, N; Walsh, P M; Roat, T W; Karram, M M

1998-12-01

To report our experience with erosion of permanent suture or mesh material after abdominal sacrocolpopexy. A retrospective chart review was performed to identify patients who underwent sacrocolpopexy by the same surgeon over 8 years. Demographic data, operative notes, hospital records, and office charts were reviewed after sacrocolpopexy. Patients with erosion of either suture or mesh were treated initially with conservative therapy followed by surgical intervention as required. Fifty-seven patients underwent sacrocolpopexy using synthetic mesh during the study period. The mean (range) postoperative follow-up was 19.9 (1.3-50) months. Seven patients (12%) had erosions after abdominal sacrocolpopexy with two suture erosions and five mesh erosions. Patients with suture erosion were asymptomatic compared with patients with mesh erosion, who presented with vaginal bleeding or discharge. The mean (+/-standard deviation) time to erosion was 14.0+/-7.7 (range 4-24) months. Both patients with suture erosion were treated conservatively with estrogen cream. All five patients with mesh erosion required transvaginal removal of the mesh. Mesh erosion can follow abdominal sacrocolpopexy over a long time, and usually presents as vaginal bleeding or discharge. Although patients with suture erosion can be managed successfully with conservative treatment, patients with mesh erosion require surgical intervention. Transvaginal removal of the mesh with vaginal advancement appears to be an effective treatment in patients failing conservative management.

Computational performance of Free Mesh Method applied to continuum mechanics problems

Science.gov (United States)

YAGAWA, Genki

2011-01-01

The free mesh method (FMM) is a kind of the meshless methods intended for particle-like finite element analysis of problems that are difficult to handle using global mesh generation, or a node-based finite element method that employs a local mesh generation technique and a node-by-node algorithm. The aim of the present paper is to review some unique numerical solutions of fluid and solid mechanics by employing FMM as well as the Enriched Free Mesh Method (EFMM), which is a new version of FMM, including compressible flow and sounding mechanism in air-reed instruments as applications to fluid mechanics, and automatic remeshing for slow crack growth, dynamic behavior of solid as well as large-scale Eigen-frequency of engine block as applications to solid mechanics. PMID:21558753

A New High-Order Spectral Difference Method for Simulating Viscous Flows on Unstructured Grids with Mixed Elements

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, Mao; Qiu, Zihua; Liang, Chunlei; Sprague, Michael; Xu, Min

2017-01-13

In the present study, a new spectral difference (SD) method is developed for viscous flows on meshes with a mixture of triangular and quadrilateral elements. The standard SD method for triangular elements, which employs Lagrangian interpolating functions for fluxes, is not stable when the designed accuracy of spatial discretization is third-order or higher. Unlike the standard SD method, the method examined here uses vector interpolating functions in the Raviart-Thomas (RT) spaces to construct continuous flux functions on reference elements. Studies have been performed for 2D wave equation and Euler equa- tions. Our present results demonstrated that the SDRT method is stable and high-order accurate for a number of test problems by using triangular-, quadrilateral-, and mixed- element meshes.

A robust and efficient finite volume scheme for the discretization of diffusive flux on extremely skewed meshes in complex geometries

Science.gov (United States)

Traoré, Philippe; Ahipo, Yves Marcel; Louste, Christophe

2009-08-01

In this paper an improved finite volume scheme to discretize diffusive flux on a non-orthogonal mesh is proposed. This approach, based on an iterative technique initially suggested by Khosla [P.K. Khosla, S.G. Rubin, A diagonally dominant second-order accurate implicit scheme, Computers and Fluids 2 (1974) 207-209] and known as deferred correction, has been intensively utilized by Muzaferija [S. Muzaferija, Adaptative finite volume method for flow prediction using unstructured meshes and multigrid approach, Ph.D. Thesis, Imperial College, 1994] and later Fergizer and Peric [J.H. Fergizer, M. Peric, Computational Methods for Fluid Dynamics, Springer, 2002] to deal with the non-orthogonality of the control volumes. Using a more suitable decomposition of the normal gradient, our scheme gives accurate solutions in geometries where the basic idea of Muzaferija fails. First the performances of both schemes are compared for a Poisson problem solved in quadrangular domains where control volumes are increasingly skewed in order to test their robustness and efficiency. It is shown that convergence properties and the accuracy order of the solution are not degraded even on extremely skewed mesh. Next, the very stable behavior of the method is successfully demonstrated on a randomly distorted grid as well as on an anisotropically distorted one. Finally we compare the solution obtained for quadrilateral control volumes to the ones obtained with a finite element code and with an unstructured version of our finite volume code for triangular control volumes. No differences can be observed between the different solutions, which demonstrates the effectiveness of our approach.

GENERALIZATION OF RAYLEIGH MAXIMUM LIKELIHOOD DESPECKLING FILTER USING QUADRILATERAL KERNELS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Sridevi

2013-02-01

Full Text Available Speckle noise is the most prevalent noise in clinical ultrasound images. It visibly looks like light and dark spots and deduce the pixel intensity as murkiest. Gazing at fetal ultrasound images, the impact of edge and local fine details are more palpable for obstetricians and gynecologists to carry out prenatal diagnosis of congenital heart disease. A robust despeckling filter has to be contrived to proficiently suppress speckle noise and simultaneously preserve the features. The proposed filter is the generalization of Rayleigh maximum likelihood filter by the exploitation of statistical tools as tuning parameters and use different shapes of quadrilateral kernels to estimate the noise free pixel from neighborhood. The performance of various filters namely Median, Kuwahura, Frost, Homogenous mask filter and Rayleigh maximum likelihood filter are compared with the proposed filter in terms PSNR and image profile. Comparatively the proposed filters surpass the conventional filters.

Parallel sorting algorithms

CERN Document Server

Akl, Selim G

1985-01-01

Parallel Sorting Algorithms explains how to use parallel algorithms to sort a sequence of items on a variety of parallel computers. The book reviews the sorting problem, the parallel models of computation, parallel algorithms, and the lower bounds on the parallel sorting problems. The text also presents twenty different algorithms, such as linear arrays, mesh-connected computers, cube-connected computers. Another example where algorithm can be applied is on the shared-memory SIMD (single instruction stream multiple data stream) computers in which the whole sequence to be sorted can fit in the

Management of complications of mesh surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Dominic; Zimmern, Philippe E

2015-07-01

Transvaginal placements of synthetic mid-urethral slings and vaginal meshes have largely superseded traditional tissue repairs in the current era because of presumed efficacy and ease of implant with device 'kits'. The use of synthetic material has generated novel complications including mesh extrusion, pelvic and vaginal pain and mesh contraction. In this review, our aim is to discuss the management, surgical techniques and outcomes associated with mesh removal. Recent publications have seen an increase in presentation of these mesh-related complications, and reports from multiple tertiary centers have suggested that not all patients benefit from surgical intervention. Although the true incidence of mesh complications is unknown, recent publications can serve to guide physicians and inform patients of the surgical outcomes from mesh-related complications. In addition, the literature highlights the growing need for a registry to account for a more accurate reporting of these events and to counsel patients on the risk and benefits before proceeding with mesh surgeries.

Coarse mesh code development

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lieberoth, J.

1975-06-15

The numerical solution of the neutron diffusion equation plays a very important role in the analysis of nuclear reactors. A wide variety of numerical procedures has been proposed, at which most of the frequently used numerical methods are fundamentally based on the finite- difference approximation where the partial derivatives are approximated by the finite difference. For complex geometries, typical of the practical reactor problems, the computational accuracy of the finite-difference method is seriously affected by the size of the mesh width relative to the neutron diffusion length and by the heterogeneity of the medium. Thus, a very large number of mesh points are generally required to obtain a reasonably accurate approximate solution of the multi-dimensional diffusion equation. Since the computation time is approximately proportional to the number of mesh points, a detailed multidimensional analysis, based on the conventional finite-difference method, is still expensive even with modern large-scale computers. Accordingly, there is a strong incentive to develop alternatives that can reduce the number of mesh-points and still retain accuracy. One of the promising alternatives is the finite element method, which consists of the expansion of the neutron flux by piecewise polynomials. One of the advantages of this procedure is its flexibility in selecting the locations of the mesh points and the degree of the expansion polynomial. The small number of mesh points of the coarse grid enables to store the results of several of the least outer iterations and to calculate well extrapolated values of them by comfortable formalisms. This holds especially if only one energy distribution of fission neutrons is assumed for all fission processes in the reactor, because the whole information of an outer iteration is contained in a field of fission rates which has the size of all mesh points of the coarse grid.

Fog water collection effectiveness: Mesh intercomparisons

Science.gov (United States)

Fernandez, Daniel; Torregrosa, Alicia; Weiss-Penzias, Peter; Zhang, Bong June; Sorensen, Deckard; Cohen, Robert; McKinley, Gareth; Kleingartner, Justin; Oliphant, Andrew; Bowman, Matthew

2018-01-01

To explore fog water harvesting potential in California, we conducted long-term measurements involving three types of mesh using standard fog collectors (SFC). Volumetric fog water measurements from SFCs and wind data were collected and recorded in 15-minute intervals over three summertime fog seasons (2014–2016) at four California sites. SFCs were deployed with: standard 1.00 m2 double-layer 35% shade coefficient Raschel; stainless steel mesh coated with the MIT-14 hydrophobic formulation; and FogHa-Tin, a German manufactured, 3-dimensional spacer fabric deployed in two orientations. Analysis of 3419 volumetric samples from all sites showed strong relationships between mesh efficiency and wind speed. Raschel mesh collected 160% more fog water than FogHa-Tin at wind speeds less than 1 m s–1 and 45% less for wind speeds greater than 5 m s–1. MIT-14 coated stainless-steel mesh collected more fog water than Raschel mesh at all wind speeds. At low wind speeds of steel mesh collected 3% more and at wind speeds of 4–5 m s–1, it collected 41% more. FogHa-Tin collected 5% more fog water when the warp of the weave was oriented vertically, per manufacturer specification, than when the warp of the weave was oriented horizontally. Time series measurements of three distinct mesh across similar wind regimes revealed inconsistent lags in fog water collection and inconsistent performance. Since such differences occurred under similar wind-speed regimes, we conclude that other factors play important roles in mesh performance, including in-situ fog event and aerosol dynamics that affect droplet-size spectra and droplet-to-mesh surface interactions.

Spatiotemporal processing of gated cardiac SPECT images using deformable mesh modeling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brankov, Jovan G.; Yang Yongyi; Wernick, Miles N.

2005-01-01

In this paper we present a spatiotemporal processing approach, based on deformable mesh modeling, for noise reduction in gated cardiac single-photon emission computed tomography images. Because of the partial volume effect (PVE), clinical cardiac-gated perfusion images exhibit a phenomenon known as brightening--the myocardium appears to become brighter as the heart wall thickens. Although brightening is an artifact, it serves as an important diagnostic feature for assessment of wall thickening in clinical practice. Our proposed processing algorithm aims to preserve this important diagnostic feature while reducing the noise level in the images. The proposed algorithm is based on the use of a deformable mesh for modeling the cardiac motion in a gated cardiac sequence, based on which the images are processed by smoothing along space-time trajectories of object points while taking into account the PVE. Our experiments demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can yield significantly more-accurate results than several existing methods

Notes on the Mesh Handler and Mesh Data Conversion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Sang Yong; Park, Chan Eok

2009-01-01

At the outset of the development of the thermal-hydraulic code (THC), efforts have been made to utilize the recent technology of the computational fluid dynamics. Among many of them, the unstructured mesh approach was adopted to alleviate the restriction of the grid handling system. As a natural consequence, a mesh handler (MH) has been developed to manipulate the complex mesh data from the mesh generator. The mesh generator, Gambit, was chosen at the beginning of the development of the code. But a new mesh generator, Pointwise, was introduced to get more flexible mesh generation capability. An open source code, Paraview, was chosen as a post processor, which can handle unstructured as well as structured mesh data. Overall data processing system for THC is shown in Figure-1. There are various file formats to save the mesh data in the permanent storage media. A couple of dozen of file formats are found even in the above mentioned programs. A competent mesh handler should have the capability to import or export mesh data as many as possible formats. But, in reality, there are two aspects that make it difficult to achieve the competence. The first aspect to consider is the time and efforts to program the interface code. And the second aspect, which is even more difficult one, is the fact that many mesh data file formats are proprietary information. In this paper, some experience of the development of the format conversion programs will be presented. File formats involved are Gambit neutral format, Ansys-CFX grid file format, VTK legacy file format, Nastran format and CGNS

Review of A* (A Star Navigation Mesh Pathfinding as the Alternative of Artificial Intelligent for Ghosts Agent on the Pacman Game

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Moh. Zikky

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Shortest pathfinding problem has become a populer issue in Game’s Artificial Intelligent (AI. This paper discussed the effective way to optimize the shortest pathfinding problem, namely Navigation Mesh (NavMesh. This method is very interesting because it has a large area of implementation, especially in games world. In this paper, NavMesh was implemented by using A* (A star algorithm and examined in Unity 3D game engine. A* was an effective algorithm in shortest pathfinding problem because its optimization was made with effective tracing using segmentation line. Pac-Man game was chosen as the example of the shortest pathfinding by using NavMesh in Unity 3D. A* algorithm was implemented on the enemies of Pac-Man (three ghosts,  which path was designed by using NavMesh concept. Thus, the movement of ghosts in catching Pac-Man was the result of this review of the effectiveness of this concept. In further research, this method could be implemented on several optimization programmes, such as Geographic Information System (GIS, robotics, and statistics.

A Numerical Study of Mesh Adaptivity in Multiphase Flows with Non-Newtonian Fluids

Science.gov (United States)

Percival, James; Pavlidis, Dimitrios; Xie, Zhihua; Alberini, Federico; Simmons, Mark; Pain, Christopher; Matar, Omar

2014-11-01

We present an investigation into the computational efficiency benefits of dynamic mesh adaptivity in the numerical simulation of transient multiphase fluid flow problems involving Non-Newtonian fluids. Such fluids appear in a range of industrial applications, from printing inks to toothpastes and introduce new challenges for mesh adaptivity due to the additional ``memory'' of viscoelastic fluids. Nevertheless, the multiscale nature of these flows implies huge potential benefits for a successful implementation. The study is performed using the open source package Fluidity, which couples an unstructured mesh control volume finite element solver for the multiphase Navier-Stokes equations to a dynamic anisotropic mesh adaptivity algorithm, based on estimated solution interpolation error criteria, and conservative mesh-to-mesh interpolation routine. The code is applied to problems involving rheologies ranging from simple Newtonian to shear-thinning to viscoelastic materials and verified against experimental data for various industrial and microfluidic flows. This work was undertaken as part of the EPSRC MEMPHIS programme grant EP/K003976/1.

Fog water collection effectiveness: Mesh intercomparisons

Science.gov (United States)

Fernandez, Daniel; Torregrosa, Alicia; Weiss-Penzias, Peter; Zhang, Bong June; Sorensen, Deckard; Cohen, Robert; McKinley, Gareth; Kleingartner, Justin; Oliphant, Andrew; Bowman, Matthew

2018-01-01

To explore fog water harvesting potential in California, we conducted long-term measurements involving three types of mesh using standard fog collectors (SFC). Volumetric fog water measurements from SFCs and wind data were collected and recorded in 15-minute intervals over three summertime fog seasons (2014–2016) at four California sites. SFCs were deployed with: standard 1.00 m2 double-layer 35% shade coefficient Raschel; stainless steel mesh coated with the MIT-14 hydrophobic formulation; and FogHa-Tin, a German manufactured, 3-dimensional spacer fabric deployed in two orientations. Analysis of 3419 volumetric samples from all sites showed strong relationships between mesh efficiency and wind speed. Raschel mesh collected 160% more fog water than FogHa-Tin at wind speeds less than 1 m s–1 and 45% less for wind speeds greater than 5 m s–1. MIT-14 coated stainless-steel mesh collected more fog water than Raschel mesh at all wind speeds. At low wind speeds of wind speeds of 4–5 m s–1, it collected 41% more. FogHa-Tin collected 5% more fog water when the warp of the weave was oriented vertically, per manufacturer specification, than when the warp of the weave was oriented horizontally. Time series measurements of three distinct mesh across similar wind regimes revealed inconsistent lags in fog water collection and inconsistent performance. Since such differences occurred under similar wind-speed regimes, we conclude that other factors play important roles in mesh performance, including in-situ fog event and aerosol dynamics that affect droplet-size spectra and droplet-to-mesh surface interactions.

Effects on Diagnostic Parameters After Removing Additional Synchronous Gear Meshes

Science.gov (United States)

Decker, Harry J.

2003-01-01

Gear cracks are typically difficult to diagnose with sufficient time before catastrophic damage occurs. Significant damage must be present before algorithms appear to be able to detect the damage. Frequently there are multiple gear meshes on a single shaft. Since they are all synchronous with the shaft frequency, the commonly used synchronous averaging technique is ineffective in removing other gear mesh effects. Carefully applying a filter to these extraneous gear mesh frequencies can reduce the overall vibration signal and increase the accuracy of commonly used vibration metrics. The vibration signals from three seeded fault tests were analyzed using this filtering procedure. Both the filtered and unfiltered vibration signals were then analyzed using commonly used fault detection metrics and compared. The tests were conducted on aerospace quality spur gears in a test rig. The tests were conducted at speeds ranging from 2500 to 5000 revolutions per minute and torques from 184 to 228 percent of design load. The inability to detect these cracks with high confidence results from the high loading which is causing fast fracture as opposed to stable crack growth. The results indicate that these techniques do not currently produce an indication of damage that significantly exceeds experimental scatter.

Isotropic 2D quadrangle meshing with size and orientation control

KAUST Repository

Pellenard, Bertrand; Alliez, Pierre; Morvan, Jean-Marie

2011-01-01

We propose an approach for automatically generating isotropic 2D quadrangle meshes from arbitrary domains with a fine control over sizing and orientation of the elements. At the heart of our algorithm is an optimization procedure that, from a coarse

Agent-based Algorithm for Spatial Distribution of Objects

KAUST Repository

Collier, Nathan; Sieniek, Marcin

2012-01-01

method. The bubble mesh algorithm treats objects in space as bubbles, which repel and attract each other. The dynamics of each bubble are approximated by solving a series of ordinary differential equations. We present numerical results for a meshing

Anisotropic evaluation of synthetic surgical meshes.

Science.gov (United States)

Saberski, E R; Orenstein, S B; Novitsky, Y W

2011-02-01

The material properties of meshes used in hernia repair contribute to the overall mechanical behavior of the repair. The anisotropic potential of synthetic meshes, representing a difference in material properties (e.g., elasticity) in different material axes, is not well defined to date. Haphazard orientation of anisotropic mesh material can contribute to inconsistent surgical outcomes. We aimed to characterize and compare anisotropic properties of commonly used synthetic meshes. Six different polypropylene (Trelex(®), ProLite™, Ultrapro™), polyester (Parietex™), and PTFE-based (Dualmesh(®), Infinit) synthetic meshes were selected. Longitudinal and transverse axes were defined for each mesh, and samples were cut in each axis orientation. Samples underwent uniaxial tensile testing, from which the elastic modulus (E) in each axis was determined. The degree of anisotropy (λ) was calculated as a logarithmic expression of the ratio between the elastic modulus in each axis. Five of six meshes displayed significant anisotropic behavior. Ultrapro™ and Infinit exhibited approximately 12- and 20-fold differences between perpendicular axes, respectively. Trelex(®), ProLite™, and Parietex™ were 2.3-2.4 times. Dualmesh(®) was the least anisotropic mesh, without marked difference between the axes. Anisotropy of synthetic meshes has been underappreciated. In this study, we found striking differences between elastic properties of perpendicular axes for most commonly used synthetic meshes. Indiscriminate orientation of anisotropic mesh may adversely affect hernia repairs. Proper labeling of all implants by manufacturers should be mandatory. Understanding the specific anisotropic behavior of synthetic meshes should allow surgeons to employ rational implant orientation to maximize outcomes of hernia repair.

A THREE-YEAR EXPERIENCE WITH ANTERIOR TRANSOBTURATOR MESH (ATOM AND POSTERIOR ISCHIORECTAL MESH (PIRM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marijan Lužnik

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Background. Use of alloplastic mesh implantates allow a new urogynecologycal surgical techniques achieve a marked improvement in pelvic organ static and pelvic floor function with minimally invasive needle transvaginal intervention like an anterior transobturator mesh (ATOM and a posterior ischiorectal mesh (PIRM procedures. Methods. In three years, between April 2006 and May 2009, we performed one hundred and eightyfour operative corrections of female pelvic organ prolapse (POP and pelvic floor dysfunction (PFD with mesh implantates. The eighty-three patients with surgical procedure TVT-O or Monarc as solo intervention indicated by stress urinary incontinence without POP, are not included in this number. In 97 % of mesh operations, Gynemesh 10 × 15 cm was used. For correction of anterior vaginal prolapse with ATOM procedure, Gynemesh was individually trimmed in mesh with 6 free arms for tension-free transobturator application and tension-free apical collar. IVS (Intravaginal sling 04 Tunneller (Tyco needle system was used for transobturator application of 6 arms through 4 dermal incisions (2 on right and 2 on left. Minimal anterior median colpotomy was made in two separate parts. For correction of posterior vaginal prolapse with PIRM procedure Gynemesh was trimmed in mesh with 4 free arms and tension-free collar. Two ischiorectal long arms for tension-free application through fossa ischiorectale – right and left, and two short arms for perineal body also on both sides. IVS 02 Tunneller (Tyco needle system was used for tension-free application of 4 arms through 4 dermal incisions (2 on right and 2 on left in PIRM. Results. All 184 procedures were performed relatively safely. In 9 cases of ATOM we had perforation of bladder, in 5 by application of anterior needle, in 3 by application of posterior needle and in one case with pincette when collar was inserted in lateral vesico – vaginal space. In 2 cases of PIRM we had perforation of rectum

All-hexahedral meshing and remeshing for multi-object manufacturing applications

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Chris Valentin; Fernandes, J.L.M.; Martins, P.A.F.

2013-01-01

new developments related to the construction of adaptive core meshes and processing of multi-objects that are typical of manufacturing applications.Along with the aforementioned improvements there are other developments that will also be presented due to their effectiveness in increasing.......The presentation is enriched with examples taken from pure geometry and metal forming applications, and a resistance projection welding industrial test case consisting of four different objects is included to show the capabilities of selective remeshing of objects while maintaining contact conditions and local...

Fitting polynomial surfaces to triangular meshes with Voronoi Squared Distance Minimization

KAUST Repository

Nivoliers, Vincent; Yan, Dongming; Lé vy, Bruno L.

2011-01-01

This paper introduces Voronoi Squared Distance Minimization (VSDM), an algorithm that fits a surface to an input mesh. VSDM minimizes an objective function that corresponds to a Voronoi-based approximation of the overall squared distance function

Fitting polynomial surfaces to triangular meshes with Voronoi squared distance minimization

KAUST Repository

Nivoliers, Vincent; Yan, Dongming; Lé vy, Bruno L.

2012-01-01

This paper introduces Voronoi squared distance minimization (VSDM), an algorithm that fits a surface to an input mesh. VSDM minimizes an objective function that corresponds to a Voronoi-based approximation of the overall squared distance function

Coupling of smooth particle hydrodynamics with the finite element method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Attaway, S.W.; Heinstein, M.W.; Swegle, J.W.

1994-01-01

A gridless technique called smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH) has been coupled with the transient dynamics finite element code ppercase[pronto]. In this paper, a new weighted residual derivation for the SPH method will be presented, and the methods used to embed SPH within ppercase[pronto] will be outlined. Example SPH ppercase[pronto] calculations will also be presented. One major difficulty associated with the Lagrangian finite element method is modeling materials with no shear strength; for example, gases, fluids and explosive biproducts. Typically, these materials can be modeled for only a short time with a Lagrangian finite element code. Large distortions cause tangling of the mesh, which will eventually lead to numerical difficulties, such as negative element area or ''bow tie'' elements. Remeshing will allow the problem to continue for a short while, but the large distortions can prevent a complete analysis. SPH is a gridless Lagrangian technique. Requiring no mesh, SPH has the potential to model material fracture, large shear flows and penetration. SPH computes the strain rate and the stress divergence based on the nearest neighbors of a particle, which are determined using an efficient particle-sorting technique. Embedding the SPH method within ppercase[pronto] allows part of the problem to be modeled with quadrilateral finite elements, while other parts are modeled with the gridless SPH method. SPH elements are coupled to the quadrilateral elements through a contact-like algorithm. ((orig.))

New strategies and developments in transparent free-form design: From facetted to nearly smooth envelopes

KAUST Repository

Baldassini, Niccolo

2009-09-01

Free-form geometries in architecture pose new challenges to designers and engineers. Form, structure and fabrication processes are closely linked, which makes the realization of complex architectural free-form structures even harder. Free-form transparent design today is mainly based on triangularly facetted forms or quadrilateral meshes supported by a structure composed of rectilinear bars, with strong shape restrictions. After a brief review of the history, we report on some very recent progress in this area. Beginning with a presentation of improved methods for triangle mesh design, we also discuss experiences in coupling triangular glass panels with continuous curved structures, seeking an optimised structural behaviour and simplified connections. Furthermore, we present how the results of research on planar quadrilateral (PQ) meshes lead the way to optimized beam layouts and the breakdown of free-form shapes using planar quadrilateral panels. PQ meshes are rooted in discrete differential geometry, an active area of mathematical research. Using recent projects as examples, we discuss how transparent free-form envelopes with a smooth visual appearance are achievable if the structure is designed to adhere to the limits of current glazing technology and the surfaces are reasonably simple (e.g. rotational, overall developable, or of a small scale). In section 6 we show how the latter restriction can be relaxed: the theoretical and computational methodology for PQ meshes can easily be extended to create nearly smooth approximations of free-form surfaces by single-curved panels. This has a strong impact on glass panelling design, since it avoids expensive double-curvature glass and exploits cold-bending technology. We elaborate on how this discretisation technique goes hand in hand with the technology for construction of the structure, glazing system and structural joints. Our approach has been tested in three case studies, each one validating a particular aspect of

Properties of meshes used in hernia repair: a comprehensive review of synthetic and biologic meshes.

Science.gov (United States)

Ibrahim, Ahmed M S; Vargas, Christina R; Colakoglu, Salih; Nguyen, John T; Lin, Samuel J; Lee, Bernard T

2015-02-01

Data on the mechanical properties of the adult human abdominal wall have been difficult to obtain rendering manufacture of the ideal mesh for ventral hernia repair a challenge. An ideal mesh would need to exhibit greater biomechanical strength and elasticity than that of the abdominal wall. The aim of this study is to quantitatively compare the biomechanical properties of the most commonly used synthetic and biologic meshes in ventral hernia repair and presents a comprehensive literature review. A narrative review of the literature was performed using the PubMed database spanning articles from 1982 to 2012 including a review of company Web sites to identify all available information relating to the biomechanical properties of various synthetic and biologic meshes used in ventral hernia repair. There exist differences in the mechanical properties and the chemical nature of different meshes. In general, most synthetic materials have greater stiffness and elasticity than what is required for abdominal wall reconstruction; however, each exhibits unique properties that may be beneficial for clinical use. On the contrary, biologic meshes are more elastic but less stiff and with a lower tensile strength than their synthetic counterparts. The current standard of practice for the treatment of ventral hernias is the use of permanent synthetic mesh material. Recently, biologic meshes have become more frequently used. Most meshes exhibit biomechanical properties over the known abdominal wall thresholds. Augmenting strength requires increasing amounts of material contributing to more stiffness and foreign body reaction, which is not necessarily an advantage. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Electrical Resistance Imaging of Two-Phase Flow With a Mesh Grouping Technique Based On Particle Swarm Optimization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Bo An; Kim, Bong Seok; Ko, Min Seok; Kim, Kyung Young; Kim, Sin

2014-01-01

An electrical resistance tomography (ERT) technique combining the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm with the Gauss-Newton method is applied to the visualization of two-phase flows. In the ERT, the electrical conductivity distribution, namely the conductivity values of pixels (numerical meshes) comprising the domain in the context of a numerical image reconstruction algorithm, is estimated with the known injected currents through the electrodes attached on the domain boundary and the measured potentials on those electrodes. In spite of many favorable characteristics of ERT such as no radiation, low cost, and high temporal resolution compared to other tomography techniques, one of the major drawbacks of ERT is low spatial resolution due to the inherent ill-posedness of conventional image reconstruction algorithms. In fact, the number of known data is much less than that of the unknowns (meshes). Recalling that binary mixtures like two-phase flows consist of only two substances with distinct electrical conductivities, this work adopts the PSO algorithm for mesh grouping to reduce the number of unknowns. In order to verify the enhanced performance of the proposed method, several numerical tests are performed. The comparison between the proposed algorithm and conventional Gauss-Newton method shows significant improvements in the quality of reconstructed images

ELECTRICAL RESISTANCE IMAGING OF TWO-PHASE FLOW WITH A MESH GROUPING TECHNIQUE BASED ON PARTICLE SWARM OPTIMIZATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

BO AN LEE

2014-02-01

Full Text Available An electrical resistance tomography (ERT technique combining the particle swarm optimization (PSO algorithm with the Gauss-Newton method is applied to the visualization of two-phase flows. In the ERT, the electrical conductivity distribution, namely the conductivity values of pixels (numerical meshes comprising the domain in the context of a numerical image reconstruction algorithm, is estimated with the known injected currents through the electrodes attached on the domain boundary and the measured potentials on those electrodes. In spite of many favorable characteristics of ERT such as no radiation, low cost, and high temporal resolution compared to other tomography techniques, one of the major drawbacks of ERT is low spatial resolution due to the inherent ill-posedness of conventional image reconstruction algorithms. In fact, the number of known data is much less than that of the unknowns (meshes. Recalling that binary mixtures like two-phase flows consist of only two substances with distinct electrical conductivities, this work adopts the PSO algorithm for mesh grouping to reduce the number of unknowns. In order to verify the enhanced performance of the proposed method, several numerical tests are performed. The comparison between the proposed algorithm and conventional Gauss-Newton method shows significant improvements in the quality of reconstructed images.

Electrical Resistance Imaging of Two-Phase Flow With a Mesh Grouping Technique Based On Particle Swarm Optimization

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Bo An; Kim, Bong Seok; Ko, Min Seok; Kim, Kyung Young; Kim, Sin [Jeju National Univ., Jeju (Korea, Republic of)

2014-02-15

An electrical resistance tomography (ERT) technique combining the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm with the Gauss-Newton method is applied to the visualization of two-phase flows. In the ERT, the electrical conductivity distribution, namely the conductivity values of pixels (numerical meshes) comprising the domain in the context of a numerical image reconstruction algorithm, is estimated with the known injected currents through the electrodes attached on the domain boundary and the measured potentials on those electrodes. In spite of many favorable characteristics of ERT such as no radiation, low cost, and high temporal resolution compared to other tomography techniques, one of the major drawbacks of ERT is low spatial resolution due to the inherent ill-posedness of conventional image reconstruction algorithms. In fact, the number of known data is much less than that of the unknowns (meshes). Recalling that binary mixtures like two-phase flows consist of only two substances with distinct electrical conductivities, this work adopts the PSO algorithm for mesh grouping to reduce the number of unknowns. In order to verify the enhanced performance of the proposed method, several numerical tests are performed. The comparison between the proposed algorithm and conventional Gauss-Newton method shows significant improvements in the quality of reconstructed images.

Mesh size in Lichtenstein repair: a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine the importance of mesh size.

Science.gov (United States)

Seker, D; Oztuna, D; Kulacoglu, H; Genc, Y; Akcil, M

2013-04-01

Small mesh size has been recognized as one of the factors responsible for recurrence after Lichtenstein hernia repair due to insufficient coverage or mesh shrinkage. The Lichtenstein Hernia Institute recommends a 7 × 15 cm mesh that can be trimmed up to 2 cm from the lateral side. We performed a systematic review to determine surgeons' mesh size preference for the Lichtenstein hernia repair and made a meta-analysis to determine the effect of mesh size, mesh type, and length of follow-up time on recurrence. Two medical databases, PubMed and ISI Web of Science, were systematically searched using the key word "Lichtenstein repair." All full text papers were selected. Publications mentioning mesh size were brought for further analysis. A mesh surface area of 90 cm(2) was accepted as the threshold for defining the mesh as small or large. Also, a subgroup analysis for recurrence pooled proportion according to the mesh size, mesh type, and follow-up period was done. In total, 514 papers were obtained. There were no prospective or retrospective clinical studies comparing mesh size and clinical outcome. A total of 141 papers were duplicated in both databases. As a result, 373 papers were obtained. The full text was available in over 95 % of papers. Only 41 (11.2 %) papers discussed mesh size. In 29 studies, a mesh larger than 90 cm(2) was used. The most frequently preferred commercial mesh size was 7.5 × 15 cm. No papers mentioned the size of the mesh after trimming. There was no information about the relationship between mesh size and patient BMI. The pooled proportion in recurrence for small meshes was 0.0019 (95 % confidence interval: 0.007-0.0036), favoring large meshes to decrease the chance of recurrence. Recurrence becomes more marked when follow-up period is longer than 1 year (p < 0.001). Heavy meshes also decreased recurrence (p = 0.015). This systematic review demonstrates that the size of the mesh used in Lichtenstein hernia repair is rarely

3D visualization and finite element mesh formation from wood anatomy samples, Part II – Algorithm approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Petr Koňas

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Paper presents new original application WOOD3D in form of program code assembling. The work extends the previous article “Part I – Theoretical approach” in detail description of implemented C++ classes of utilized projects Visualization Toolkit (VTK, Insight Toolkit (ITK and MIMX. Code is written in CMake style and it is available as multiplatform application. Currently GNU Linux (32/64b and MS Windows (32/64b platforms were released. Article discusses various filter classes for image filtering. Mainly Otsu and Binary threshold filters are classified for anatomy wood samples thresholding. Registration of images series is emphasized for difference of colour spaces compensation is included. Resulted work flow of image analysis is new methodological approach for images processing through the composition, visualization, filtering, registration and finite element mesh formation. Application generates script in ANSYS parametric design language (APDL which is fully compatible with ANSYS finite element solver and designer environment. The script includes the whole definition of unstructured finite element mesh formed by individual elements and nodes. Due to simple notation, the same script can be used for generation of geometrical entities in element positions. Such formed volumetric entities are prepared for further geometry approximation (e.g. by boolean or more advanced methods. Hexahedral and tetrahedral types of mesh elements are formed on user request with specified mesh options. Hexahedral meshes are formed both with uniform element size and with anisotropic character. Modified octree method for hexahedral mesh with anisotropic character was declared in application. Multicore CPUs in the application are supported for fast image analysis realization. Visualization of image series and consequent 3D image are realized in VTK format sufficiently known and public format, visualized in GPL application Paraview. Future work based on mesh

Adaptive upscaling with the dual mesh method

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Guerillot, D.; Verdiere, S.

1997-08-01

The objective of this paper is to demonstrate that upscaling should be calculated during the flow simulation instead of trying to enhance the a priori upscaling methods. Hence, counter-examples are given to motivate our approach, the so-called Dual Mesh Method. The main steps of this numerical algorithm are recalled. Applications illustrate the necessity to consider different average relative permeability values depending on the direction in space. Moreover, these values could be different for the same average saturation. This proves that an a priori upscaling cannot be the answer even in homogeneous cases because of the {open_quotes}dynamical heterogeneity{close_quotes} created by the saturation profile. Other examples show the efficiency of the Dual Mesh Method applied to heterogeneous medium and to an actual field case in South America.

Outcomes of Autologous Fascia Pubovaginal Sling for Patients with Transvaginal Mesh Related Complications Requiring Mesh Removal.

Science.gov (United States)

McCoy, Olugbemisola; Vaughan, Taylor; Nickles, S Walker; Ashley, Matt; MacLachlan, Lara S; Ginsberg, David; Rovner, Eric

2016-08-01

We reviewed the outcomes of the autologous fascial pubovaginal sling as a salvage procedure for recurrent stress incontinence after intervention for polypropylene mesh erosion/exposure and/or bladder outlet obstruction in patients treated with prior transvaginal synthetic mesh for stress urinary incontinence. In a review of surgical databases at 2 institutions between January 2007 and June 2013 we identified 46 patients who underwent autologous fascial pubovaginal sling following removal of transvaginal synthetic mesh in simultaneous or staged fashion. This cohort of patients was evaluated for outcomes, including subjective and objective success, change in quality of life and complications between those who underwent staged vs concomitant synthetic mesh removal with autologous fascial pubovaginal sling placement. All 46 patients had received at least 1 prior mesh sling for incontinence and 8 (17%) had received prior transvaginal polypropylene mesh for pelvic organ prolapse repair. A total of 30 patients underwent concomitant mesh incision with or without partial excision and autologous sling placement while 16 underwent staged autologous sling placement. Mean followup was 16 months. Of the patients 22% required a mean of 1.8 subsequent interventions an average of 6.5 months after autologous sling placement with no difference in median quality of life at final followup. At last followup 42 of 46 patients (91%) and 35 of 46 (76%) had achieved objective and subjective success, respectively. There was no difference in subjective success between patients treated with a staged vs a concomitant approach (69% vs 80%, p = 0.48). Autologous fascial pubovaginal sling placement after synthetic mesh removal can be performed successfully in patients with stress urinary incontinence as a single or staged procedure. Copyright © 2016 American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Obturator foramen dissection for excision of symptomatic transobturator mesh.

Science.gov (United States)

Reynolds, W Stuart; Kit, Laura Chang; Kaufman, Melissa R; Karram, Mickey; Bales, Gregory T; Dmochowski, Roger R

2012-05-01

Groin pain after transobturator synthetic mesh placement can be recalcitrant to conservative therapy and ultimately requires surgical excision. We describe our experiences with and technique of obturator foramen dissection for mesh excision. The records of 8 patients treated from 2005 to 2010, were reviewed. Obturator dissection was performed via a lateral groin incision over the inferior pubic ramus at the level of the obturator foramen, typically in conjunction with orthopedic surgery. Five patients had transobturator mid urethral sling surgery for stress urinary incontinence, 2 had mid urethral sling and trocar based anterior vaginal wall mesh kits with transobturator passage of mesh arms for stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse, and 1 had an anterior vaginal wall mesh kit for pelvic organ prolapse. Patients had 0 to 2 prior transvaginal mesh excisions before obturator surgery. All patients presented with intractable pain in the area of the obturator foramen and/or medial groin for which conservative treatment measures had failed. Six patients underwent concurrent vaginal and obturator dissection and 2 underwent obturator dissection alone. In all cases residual mesh (3 to 11 cm) was identified and excised from the obturator foramen. Mesh was closely associated to or traversing the adductor longus muscle and tendon with significant fibrous reaction in all cases. Postoperatively 5 patients were cured of pain and/or infection, and 3 reported no or some improvement at a mean followup of 6 months (range 1 to 12). Our experience suggests that surgical excision of residual mesh can alleviate many of the symptoms in many patients. In all cases mesh remnants were identified and removed, and typically involved neuromuscular structures adjacent to the obturator foramen. Copyright © 2012 American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

OPTIMASI OLSR ROUTING PROTOCOL PADA JARINGAN WIRELESS MESH DENGAN ADAPTIVE REFRESHING TIME INTERVAL DAN ENHANCE MULTI POINT RELAY SELECTING ALGORITHM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Faosan Mapa

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Normal 0 false false false IN X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} Wireless Mesh Network (WMN adalah suatu konektivitas jaringan yang self-organized, self-configured dan multi-hop. Tujuan dari WMN adalah menawarkan pengguna suatu bentuk jaringan nirkabel yang dapat dengan mudah berkomunikasi dengan jaringan konvensional dengan kecepatan tinggi dan dengan cakupan yang lebih luas serta biaya awal yang minimal. Diperlukan suatu desain protokol routing yang efisien untuk WMN yang secara adaptif dapat mendukung mesh routers dan mesh clients. Dalam tulisan ini, diusulkan untuk mengoptimalkan protokol OLSR, yang merupakan protokol routing proaktif. Digunakan heuristik yang meningkatkan protokol OLSR melalui adaptive refreshing time interval dan memperbaiki metode MPR selecting algorithm. Suatu analisa dalam meningkatkan protokol OLSR melalui adaptive refreshing time interval dan memperbaiki algoritma pemilihan MPR menunjukkan kinerja yang signifikan dalam hal throughput jika dibandingkan dengan protokol OLSR yang asli. Akan tetapi, terdapat kenaikan dalam hal delay. Pada simulasi yang dilakukan dapat disimpulkan bahwa OLSR dapat dioptimalkan dengan memodifikasi pemilihan node MPR berdasarkan cost effective dan penyesuaian waktu interval refreshing hello message sesuai dengan keadaan

Block-structured Adaptive Mesh Refinement - Theory, Implementation and Application

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Deiterding Ralf

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Structured adaptive mesh refinement (SAMR techniques can enable cutting-edge simulations of problems governed by conservation laws. Focusing on the strictly hyperbolic case, these notes explain all algorithmic and mathematical details of a technically relevant implementation tailored for distributed memory computers. An overview of the background of commonly used finite volume discretizations for gas dynamics is included and typical benchmarks to quantify accuracy and performance of the dynamically adaptive code are discussed. Large-scale simulations of shock-induced realistic combustion in non-Cartesian geometry and shock-driven fluid-structure interaction with fully coupled dynamic boundary motion demonstrate the applicability of the discussed techniques for complex scenarios.

Combining 3d Volume and Mesh Models for Representing Complicated Heritage Buildings

Science.gov (United States)

Tsai, F.; Chang, H.; Lin, Y.-W.

2017-08-01

This study developed a simple but effective strategy to combine 3D volume and mesh models for representing complicated heritage buildings and structures. The idea is to seamlessly integrate 3D parametric or polyhedral models and mesh-based digital surfaces to generate a hybrid 3D model that can take advantages of both modeling methods. The proposed hybrid model generation framework is separated into three phases. Firstly, after acquiring or generating 3D point clouds of the target, these 3D points are partitioned into different groups. Secondly, a parametric or polyhedral model of each group is generated based on plane and surface fitting algorithms to represent the basic structure of that region. A "bare-bones" model of the target can subsequently be constructed by connecting all 3D volume element models. In the third phase, the constructed bare-bones model is used as a mask to remove points enclosed by the bare-bones model from the original point clouds. The remaining points are then connected to form 3D surface mesh patches. The boundary points of each surface patch are identified and these boundary points are projected onto the surfaces of the bare-bones model. Finally, new meshes are created to connect the projected points and original mesh boundaries to integrate the mesh surfaces with the 3D volume model. The proposed method was applied to an open-source point cloud data set and point clouds of a local historical structure. Preliminary results indicated that the reconstructed hybrid models using the proposed method can retain both fundamental 3D volume characteristics and accurate geometric appearance with fine details. The reconstructed hybrid models can also be used to represent targets in different levels of detail according to user and system requirements in different applications.

An improved algorithm for finding all minimal paths in a network

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bai, Guanghan; Tian, Zhigang; Zuo, Ming J.

2016-01-01

Minimal paths (MPs) play an important role in network reliability evaluation. In this paper, we report an efficient recursive algorithm for finding all MPs in two-terminal networks, which consist of a source node and a sink node. A linked path structure indexed by nodes is introduced, which accepts both directed and undirected form of networks. The distance between each node and the sink node is defined, and a simple recursive algorithm is presented for labeling the distance for each node. Based on the distance between each node and the sink node, additional conditions for backtracking are incorporated to reduce the number of search branches. With the newly introduced linked node structure, the distances between each node and the sink node, and the additional backtracking conditions, an improved backtracking algorithm for searching for all MPs is developed. In addition, the proposed algorithm can be adapted to search for all minimal paths for each source–sink pair in networks consisting of multiple source nodes and/or multiple sink nodes. Through computational experiments, it is demonstrated that the proposed algorithm is more efficient than existing algorithms when the network size is not too small. The proposed algorithm becomes more advantageous as the size of the network grows. - Highlights: • A linked path structure indexed by nodes is introduced to represent networks. • Additional conditions for backtracking are proposed based on the distance of each node. • An efficient algorithm is developed to find all MPs for two-terminal networks. • The computational efficiency of the algorithm for two-terminal networks is investigated. • The computational efficiency of the algorithm for multi-terminal networks is investigated.

Analysis of dynamic meshing characteristic of planetary gear transmission in wind power increasing gearbox

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wang Jungang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Dynamic behavior of planetary gear’s tooth contact surface in the different location can better conform operation condition comparing to the general gear pair. Nonlinear finite element algorithm was derived according to the basic control equation of contact dynamics. A finite element model of planetary gear transmission in wind power increasing gearbox was proposed considering different meshing locations based on nonlinear finite element solution. The characteristics of stress distribution at different meshing positions were analyzed. A simulation of the meshing process was conducted using finite element analysis. It was shown that node stresses of external meshing planetary gear varied significantly at different position. The analysis provides some useful insights into the performance of planetary gear’s tooth contact surface.

Mersiline mesh in premaxillary augmentation.

Science.gov (United States)

Foda, Hossam M T

2005-01-01

Premaxillary retrusion may distort the aesthetic appearance of the columella, lip, and nasal tip. This defect is characteristically seen in, but not limited to, patients with cleft lip nasal deformity. This study investigated 60 patients presenting with premaxillary deficiencies in which Mersiline mesh was used to augment the premaxilla. All the cases had surgery using the external rhinoplasty technique. Two methods of augmentation with Mersiline mesh were used: the Mersiline roll technique, for the cases with central symmetric deficiencies, and the Mersiline packing technique, for the cases with asymmetric deficiencies. Premaxillary augmentation with Mersiline mesh proved to be simple technically, easy to perform, and not associated with any complications. Periodic follow-up evaluation for a mean period of 32 months (range, 12-98 months) showed that an adequate degree of premaxillary augmentation was maintained with no clinically detectable resorption of the mesh implant.

Automatic two- and three-dimensional mesh generation based on fuzzy knowledge processing

Science.gov (United States)

Yagawa, G.; Yoshimura, S.; Soneda, N.; Nakao, K.

1992-09-01

This paper describes the development of a novel automatic FEM mesh generation algorithm based on the fuzzy knowledge processing technique. A number of local nodal patterns are stored in a nodal pattern database of the mesh generation system. These nodal patterns are determined a priori based on certain theories or past experience of experts of FEM analyses. For example, such human experts can determine certain nodal patterns suitable for stress concentration analyses of cracks, corners, holes and so on. Each nodal pattern possesses a membership function and a procedure of node placement according to this function. In the cases of the nodal patterns for stress concentration regions, the membership function which is utilized in the fuzzy knowledge processing has two meanings, i.e. the “closeness” of nodal location to each stress concentration field as well as “nodal density”. This is attributed to the fact that a denser nodal pattern is required near a stress concentration field. What a user has to do in a practical mesh generation process are to choose several local nodal patterns properly and to designate the maximum nodal density of each pattern. After those simple operations by the user, the system places the chosen nodal patterns automatically in an analysis domain and on its boundary, and connects them smoothly by the fuzzy knowledge processing technique. Then triangular or tetrahedral elements are generated by means of the advancing front method. The key issue of the present algorithm is an easy control of complex two- or three-dimensional nodal density distribution by means of the fuzzy knowledge processing technique. To demonstrate fundamental performances of the present algorithm, a prototype system was constructed with one of object-oriented languages, Smalltalk-80 on a 32-bit microcomputer, Macintosh II. The mesh generation of several two- and three-dimensional domains with cracks, holes and junctions was presented as examples.

Work in progress: a channel selection algorithm for a TVWS mesh network

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Zlobinsky, Natasha

2016-09-01

Full Text Available and routing for throughput optimization in multi-radio wireless mesh networks,” Proc. 11th Annu. Int. Conf. Mob. Comput. Netw. - MobiCom ’05, p. 58, 2005. [4] M. R. Rai, S. Vahid, and K. Moessner, “SINR based Topology Control for Multihop Wireless Networks...

Deploy Nalu/Kokkos algorithmic infrastructure with performance benchmarking.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Domino, Stefan P. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Ananthan, Shreyas [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Knaus, Robert C. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Williams, Alan B. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2017-09-29

The former Nalu interior heterogeneous algorithm design, which was originally designed to manage matrix assembly operations over all elemental topology types, has been modified to operate over homogeneous collections of mesh entities. This newly templated kernel design allows for removal of workset variable resize operations that were formerly required at each loop over a Sierra ToolKit (STK) bucket (nominally, 512 entities in size). Extensive usage of the Standard Template Library (STL) std::vector has been removed in favor of intrinsic Kokkos memory views. In this milestone effort, the transition to Kokkos as the underlying infrastructure to support performance and portability on many-core architectures has been deployed for key matrix algorithmic kernels. A unit-test driven design effort has developed a homogeneous entity algorithm that employs a team-based thread parallelism construct. The STK Single Instruction Multiple Data (SIMD) infrastructure is used to interleave data for improved vectorization. The collective algorithm design, which allows for concurrent threading and SIMD management, has been deployed for the core low-Mach element- based algorithm. Several tests to ascertain SIMD performance on Intel KNL and Haswell architectures have been carried out. The performance test matrix includes evaluation of both low- and higher-order methods. The higher-order low-Mach methodology builds on polynomial promotion of the core low-order control volume nite element method (CVFEM). Performance testing of the Kokkos-view/SIMD design indicates low-order matrix assembly kernel speed-up ranging between two and four times depending on mesh loading and node count. Better speedups are observed for higher-order meshes (currently only P=2 has been tested) especially on KNL. The increased workload per element on higher-order meshes bene ts from the wide SIMD width on KNL machines. Combining multiple threads with SIMD on KNL achieves a 4.6x speedup over the baseline, with

Tensile Behaviour of Welded Wire Mesh and Hexagonal Metal Mesh for Ferrocement Application

Science.gov (United States)

Tanawade, A. G.; Modhera, C. D.

2017-08-01

Tension tests were conducted on welded mesh and hexagonal Metal mesh. Welded Mesh is available in the market in different sizes. The two types are analysed viz. Ø 2.3 mm and Ø 2.7 mm welded mesh, having opening size 31.75 mm × 31.75 mm and 25.4 mm × 25.4 mm respectively. Tensile strength test was performed on samples of welded mesh in three different orientations namely 0°, 30° and 45° degrees with the loading axis and hexagonal Metal mesh of Ø 0.7 mm, having opening 19.05 × 19.05 mm. Experimental tests were conducted on samples of these meshes. The objective of this study was to investigate the behaviour of the welded mesh and hexagonal Metal mesh. The result shows that the tension load carrying capacity of welded mesh of Ø 2.7 mm of 0° orientation is good as compared to Ø2.3 mm mesh and ductility of hexagonal Metal mesh is good in behaviour.

Highly Symmetric and Congruently Tiled Meshes for Shells and Domes

Science.gov (United States)

Rasheed, Muhibur; Bajaj, Chandrajit

2016-01-01

We describe the generation of all possible shell and dome shapes that can be uniquely meshed (tiled) using a single type of mesh face (tile), and following a single meshing (tiling) rule that governs the mesh (tile) arrangement with maximal vertex, edge and face symmetries. Such tiling arrangements or congruently tiled meshed shapes, are frequently found in chemical forms (fullerenes or Bucky balls, crystals, quasi-crystals, virus nano shells or capsids), and synthetic shapes (cages, sports domes, modern architectural facades). Congruently tiled meshes are both aesthetic and complete, as they support maximal mesh symmetries with minimal complexity and possess simple generation rules. Here, we generate congruent tilings and meshed shape layouts that satisfy these optimality conditions. Further, the congruent meshes are uniquely mappable to an almost regular 3D polyhedron (or its dual polyhedron) and which exhibits face-transitive (and edge-transitive) congruency with at most two types of vertices (each type transitive to the other). The family of all such congruently meshed polyhedra create a new class of meshed shapes, beyond the well-studied regular, semi-regular and quasi-regular classes, and their duals (platonic, Catalan and Johnson). While our new mesh class is infinite, we prove that there exists a unique mesh parametrization, where each member of the class can be represented by two integer lattice variables, and moreover efficiently constructable. PMID:27563368

Seeking new surgical predictors of mesh exposure after transvaginal mesh repair.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Pei-Ying; Chang, Chih-Hung; Shen, Meng-Ru; Chou, Cheng-Yang; Yang, Yi-Ching; Huang, Yu-Fang

2016-10-01

The purpose of this study was to explore new preventable risk factors for mesh exposure. A retrospective review of 92 consecutive patients treated with transvaginal mesh (TVM) in the urogynecological unit of our university hospital. An analysis of perioperative predictors was conducted in patients after vaginal repairs using a type 1 mesh. Mesh complications were recorded according to International Urogynecological Association (IUGA) definitions. Mesh-exposure-free durations were calculated by using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared between different closure techniques using log-rank test. Hazard ratios (HR) of predictors for mesh exposure were estimated by univariate and multivariate analyses using Cox proportional hazards regression models. The median surveillance interval was 24.1 months. Two late occurrences were found beyond 1 year post operation. No statistically significant correlation was observed between mesh exposure and concomitant hysterectomy. Exposure risks were significantly higher in patients with interrupted whole-layer closure in univariate analysis. In the multivariate analysis, hematoma [HR 5.42, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.26-23.35, P = 0.024), Prolift mesh (HR 5.52, 95 % CI 1.15-26.53, P = 0.033), and interrupted whole-layer closure (HR 7.02, 95 % CI 1.62-30.53, P = 0.009) were the strongest predictors of mesh exposure. Findings indicate the risks of mesh exposure and reoperation may be prevented by avoiding hematoma, large amount of mesh, or interrupted whole-layer closure in TVM surgeries. If these risk factors are prevented, hysterectomy may not be a relative contraindication for TVM use. We also provide evidence regarding mesh exposure and the necessity for more than 1 year of follow-up and preoperative counselling.

Multidimensional upwind hydrodynamics on unstructured meshes using graphics processing units - I. Two-dimensional uniform meshes

Science.gov (United States)

Paardekooper, S.-J.

2017-08-01

We present a new method for numerical hydrodynamics which uses a multidimensional generalization of the Roe solver and operates on an unstructured triangular mesh. The main advantage over traditional methods based on Riemann solvers, which commonly use one-dimensional flux estimates as building blocks for a multidimensional integration, is its inherently multidimensional nature, and as a consequence its ability to recognize multidimensional stationary states that are not hydrostatic. A second novelty is the focus on graphics processing units (GPUs). By tailoring the algorithms specifically to GPUs, we are able to get speedups of 100-250 compared to a desktop machine. We compare the multidimensional upwind scheme to a traditional, dimensionally split implementation of the Roe solver on several test problems, and we find that the new method significantly outperforms the Roe solver in almost all cases. This comes with increased computational costs per time-step, which makes the new method approximately a factor of 2 slower than a dimensionally split scheme acting on a structured grid.

New strategies and developments in transparent free-form design: From facetted to nearly smooth envelopes

KAUST Repository

Baldassini, Niccolo; Pottmann, Helmut; Raynaud, Jacques; Schiftner, Alexander

2009-01-01

-form transparent design today is mainly based on triangularly facetted forms or quadrilateral meshes supported by a structure composed of rectilinear bars, with strong shape restrictions. After a brief review of the history, we report on some very recent progress

The Role of Chronic Mesh Infection in Delayed-Onset Vaginal Mesh Complications or Recurrent Urinary Tract Infections: Results From Explanted Mesh Cultures.

Science.gov (United States)

Mellano, Erin M; Nakamura, Leah Y; Choi, Judy M; Kang, Diana C; Grisales, Tamara; Raz, Shlomo; Rodriguez, Larissa V

2016-01-01

Vaginal mesh complications necessitating excision are increasingly prevalent. We aim to study whether subclinical chronically infected mesh contributes to the development of delayed-onset mesh complications or recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs). Women undergoing mesh removal from August 2013 through May 2014 were identified by surgical code for vaginal mesh removal. Only women undergoing removal of anti-incontinence mesh were included. Exclusion criteria included any women undergoing simultaneous prolapse mesh removal. We abstracted preoperative and postoperative information from the medical record and compared mesh culture results from patients with and without mesh extrusion, de novo recurrent UTIs, and delayed-onset pain. One hundred seven women with only anti-incontinence mesh removed were included in the analysis. Onset of complications after mesh placement was within the first 6 months in 70 (65%) of 107 and delayed (≥6 months) in 37 (35%) of 107. A positive culture from the explanted mesh was obtained from 82 (77%) of 107 patients, and 40 (37%) of 107 were positive with potential pathogens. There were no significant differences in culture results when comparing patients with delayed-onset versus immediate pain, extrusion with no extrusion, and de novo recurrent UTIs with no infections. In this large cohort of patients with mesh removed for a diverse array of complications, cultures of the explanted vaginal mesh demonstrate frequent low-density bacterial colonization. We found no differences in culture results from women with delayed-onset pain versus acute pain, vaginal mesh extrusions versus no extrusions, or recurrent UTIs using standard culture methods. Chronic prosthetic infections in other areas of medicine are associated with bacterial biofilms, which are resistant to typical culture techniques. Further studies using culture-independent methods are needed to investigate the potential role of chronic bacterial infections in delayed vaginal mesh

Transrectal Mesh Erosion Requiring Bowel Resection.

Science.gov (United States)

Kemp, Marta Maria; Slim, Karem; Rabischong, Benoît; Bourdel, Nicolas; Canis, Michel; Botchorishvili, Revaz

of pelvic floor descent. Her intestinal transit was reestablished, and she was satisfied with the treatment. None of the studies that represent the specific female population submitted to laparoscopic promontofixation with transrectal mesh erosion describe the need for more than one intervention or digestive resection [9-12]. Physicians dealing with patients submitted to pelvic reconstructive surgeries with mesh placement should be aware of transrectal and other nonvaginal erosions of mesh, even being rare events. Moreover, they should perform an active search for unusual gynecologic and anorectal signs and symptoms. Most importantly, patients undergoing mesh repair procedures must be warned of the risks of the surgery, including the possibility of several subsequent interventions. Copyright © 2017 AAGL. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Novel quadrilateral elements based on explicit Hermite polynomials for bending of Kirchhoff-Love plates

Science.gov (United States)

Beheshti, Alireza

2018-03-01

The contribution addresses the finite element analysis of bending of plates given the Kirchhoff-Love model. To analyze the static deformation of plates with different loadings and geometries, the principle of virtual work is used to extract the weak form. Following deriving the strain field, stresses and resultants may be obtained. For constructing four-node quadrilateral plate elements, the Hermite polynomials defined with respect to the variables in the parent space are applied explicitly. Based on the approximated field of displacement, the stiffness matrix and the load vector in the finite element method are obtained. To demonstrate the performance of the subparametric 4-node plate elements, some known, classical examples in structural mechanics are solved and there are comparisons with the analytical solutions available in the literature.

A subzone reconstruction algorithm for efficient staggered compatible remapping

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Starinshak, D.P., E-mail: starinshak1@llnl.gov; Owen, J.M., E-mail: mikeowen@llnl.gov

2015-09-01

Staggered-grid Lagrangian hydrodynamics algorithms frequently make use of subzonal discretization of state variables for the purposes of improved numerical accuracy, generality to unstructured meshes, and exact conservation of mass, momentum, and energy. For Arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian (ALE) methods using a geometric overlay, it is difficult to remap subzonal variables in an accurate and efficient manner due to the number of subzone–subzone intersections that must be computed. This becomes prohibitive in the case of 3D, unstructured, polyhedral meshes. A new procedure is outlined in this paper to avoid direct subzonal remapping. The new algorithm reconstructs the spatial profile of a subzonal variable using remapped zonal and nodal representations of the data. The reconstruction procedure is cast as an under-constrained optimization problem. Enforcing conservation at each zone and node on the remapped mesh provides the set of equality constraints; the objective function corresponds to a quadratic variation per subzone between the values to be reconstructed and a set of target reference values. Numerical results for various pure-remapping and hydrodynamics tests are provided. Ideas for extending the algorithm to staggered-grid radiation-hydrodynamics are discussed as well as ideas for generalizing the algorithm to include inequality constraints.

A constrained Delaunay discretization method for adaptively meshing highly discontinuous geological media

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yang; Ma, Guowei; Ren, Feng; Li, Tuo

2017-12-01

A constrained Delaunay discretization method is developed to generate high-quality doubly adaptive meshes of highly discontinuous geological media. Complex features such as three-dimensional discrete fracture networks (DFNs), tunnels, shafts, slopes, boreholes, water curtains, and drainage systems are taken into account in the mesh generation. The constrained Delaunay triangulation method is used to create adaptive triangular elements on planar fractures. Persson's algorithm (Persson, 2005), based on an analogy between triangular elements and spring networks, is enriched to automatically discretize a planar fracture into mesh points with varying density and smooth-quality gradient. The triangulated planar fractures are treated as planar straight-line graphs (PSLGs) to construct piecewise-linear complex (PLC) for constrained Delaunay tetrahedralization. This guarantees the doubly adaptive characteristic of the resulted mesh: the mesh is adaptive not only along fractures but also in space. The quality of elements is compared with the results from an existing method. It is verified that the present method can generate smoother elements and a better distribution of element aspect ratios. Two numerical simulations are implemented to demonstrate that the present method can be applied to various simulations of complex geological media that contain a large number of discontinuities.

MeSH key terms for validation and annotation of gene expression clusters

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rechtsteiner, A. (Andreas); Rocha, L. M. (Luis Mateus)

2004-01-01

Integration of different sources of information is a great challenge for the analysis of gene expression data, and for the field of Functional Genomics in general. As the availability of numerical data from high-throughput methods increases, so does the need for technologies that assist in the validation and evaluation of the biological significance of results extracted from these data. In mRNA assaying with microarrays, for example, numerical analysis often attempts to identify clusters of co-expressed genes. The important task to find the biological significance of the results and validate them has so far mostly fallen to the biological expert who had to perform this task manually. One of the most promising avenues to develop automated and integrative technology for such tasks lies in the application of modern Information Retrieval (IR) and Knowledge Management (KM) algorithms to databases with biomedical publications and data. Examples of databases available for the field are bibliographic databases c ntaining scientific publications (e.g. MEDLINE/PUBMED), databases containing sequence data (e.g. GenBank) and databases of semantic annotations (e.g. the Gene Ontology Consortium and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)). We present here an approach that uses the MeSH terms and their concept hierarchies to validate and obtain functional information for gene expression clusters. The controlled and hierarchical MeSH vocabulary is used by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to index all the articles cited in MEDLINE. Such indexing with a controlled vocabulary eliminates some of the ambiguity due to polysemy (terms that have multiple meanings) and synonymy (multiple terms have similar meaning) that would be encountered if terms would be extracted directly from the articles due to differing article contexts or author preferences and background. Further, the hierarchical organization of the MeSH terms can illustrate the conceptuallfunctional relationships of genes

The mesh controversy [version 1; referees: 2 approved

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joshua A. Cohn

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence are common conditions for which approximately 11% of women will undergo surgical intervention in their lifetime. The use of vaginal mesh for pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence rose rapidly in the early 2000s as over 100 mesh products were introduced into the clinical armamentarium with little regulatory oversight for their use. US Food and Drug Administration Public Health Notifications in 2008 and 2011, as well as reclassification of transvaginal mesh for prolapse to class III in early 2016, were a response to debilitating complications associated with transvaginal mesh placement in many women. The midurethral sling has not been subject to the same reclassification and continues to be endorsed as the “gold standard” for surgical management of stress urinary incontinence by subspecialty societies. However, litigators have not differentiated between mesh for prolapse and mesh for incontinence. As such, all mesh, including that placed for stress urinary incontinence, faces continued controversy amidst an uncertain future. In this article, we review the background of the mesh controversy, recent developments, and the anticipated role of mesh in surgery for prolapse and stress urinary incontinence going forward.

A Numerical Algorithm to find All Scalar Feedback Nash Equilibria

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Engwerda, J.C.

2013-01-01

Abstract: In this note we generalize a numerical algorithm presented in [9] to calculate all solutions of the scalar algebraic Riccati equations that play an important role in finding feedback Nash equilibria of the scalar N-player linear affine-quadratic differential game. The algorithm is based on

Urogynecologic Surgical Mesh Implants

Science.gov (United States)

... procedures performed to treat pelvic floor disorders with surgical mesh: Transvaginal mesh to treat POP Transabdominal mesh to treat ... address safety risks Final Order for Reclassification of Surgical Mesh for Transvaginal Pelvic Organ Prolapse Repair Final Order for Effective ...

Adaptive mesh refinement and multilevel iteration for multiphase, multicomponent flow in porous media

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hornung, R.D. [Duke Univ., Durham, NC (United States)

1996-12-31

An adaptive local mesh refinement (AMR) algorithm originally developed for unsteady gas dynamics is extended to multi-phase flow in porous media. Within the AMR framework, we combine specialized numerical methods to treat the different aspects of the partial differential equations. Multi-level iteration and domain decomposition techniques are incorporated to accommodate elliptic/parabolic behavior. High-resolution shock capturing schemes are used in the time integration of the hyperbolic mass conservation equations. When combined with AMR, these numerical schemes provide high resolution locally in a more efficient manner than if they were applied on a uniformly fine computational mesh. We will discuss the interplay of physical, mathematical, and numerical concerns in the application of adaptive mesh refinement to flow in porous media problems of practical interest.

Histologic and biomechanical evaluation of a novel macroporous polytetrafluoroethylene knit mesh compared to lightweight and heavyweight polypropylene mesh in a porcine model of ventral incisional hernia repair.

Science.gov (United States)

Melman, L; Jenkins, E D; Hamilton, N A; Bender, L C; Brodt, M D; Deeken, C R; Greco, S C; Frisella, M M; Matthews, B D

2011-08-01

To evaluate the biocompatibility of heavyweight polypropylene (HWPP), lightweight polypropylene (LWPP), and monofilament knit polytetrafluoroethylene (mkPTFE) mesh by comparing biomechanics and histologic response at 1, 3, and 5 months in a porcine model of incisional hernia repair. Bilateral full-thickness abdominal wall defects measuring 4 cm in length were created in 27 Yucatan minipigs. Twenty-one days after hernia creation, animals underwent bilateral preperitoneal ventral hernia repair with 8 × 10 cm pieces of mesh. Repairs were randomized to Bard(®)Mesh (HWPP, Bard/Davol, http://www.davol.com), ULTRAPRO(®) (LWPP, Ethicon, http://www.ethicon.com), and GORE(®)INFINIT Mesh (mkPTFE, Gore & Associates, http://www.gore.com). Nine animals were sacrificed at each timepoint (1, 3, and 5 months). At harvest, a 3 × 4 cm sample of mesh and incorporated tissue was taken from the center of the implant site and subjected to uniaxial tensile testing at a rate of 0.42 mm/s. The maximum force (N) and tensile strength (N/cm) were measured with a tensiometer, and stiffness (N/mm) was calculated from the slope of the force-versus-displacement curve. Adjacent sections of tissue were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and analyzed for inflammation, fibrosis, and tissue ingrowth. Data are reported as mean ± SEM. Statistical significance (P 0.05 for all comparisons). However, for each mesh type, the maximum strength at 5 months was significantly lower than that at 1 month (P 0.05 for all comparisons). No significant differences with regard to inflammation, fibrosis, or tissue ingrowth were detected between mesh types at any time point (P > 0.09 for all comparisons). However, over time, inflammation decreased significantly for all mesh types (P 0.09). The maximum tensile strength of mesh in the abdominal wall decreased over time for HWPP, LWPP, and mkPTFE mesh materials alike. This trend may actually reflect inability to adequately grip specimens at later time points

Milestone Deliverable: FY18-Q1: Deploy production sliding mesh capability with linear solver benchmarking.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Domino, Stefan P. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2017-12-01

This milestone was focused on deploying and verifying a “sliding-mesh interface,” and establishing baseline timings for blade-resolved simulations of a sub-MW-scale turbine. In the ExaWind project, we are developing both sliding-mesh and overset-mesh approaches for handling the rotating blades in an operating wind turbine. In the sliding-mesh approach, the turbine rotor and its immediate surrounding fluid are captured in a “disk” that is embedded in the larger fluid domain. The embedded fluid is simulated in a coordinate system that rotates with the rotor. It is important that the coupling algorithm (and its implementation) between the rotating and inertial discrete models maintains the accuracy of the numerical methods on either side of the interface, i.e., the interface is “design order.”

COMPLEX OPTICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF MESH IMPLANTS AND ENCAPSULATION AREA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

VALERIY P. ZAKHAROV

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Complex investigation of mesh implants was performed involving laser confocal microscopy, backscattered probing and OCT imaging methods. The growth of endomysium and fat tissue with microcirculation vessels was observed in the mesh encapsulation region. Confocal microscopy analysis shows that such pathologies complications such as necrosis formation and microcavities were localized in the area near implant fibers with the size compatible with fiber diameter. And the number of such formations increase with the increase of the size, number and density of microdefects on the implant surface. Results of numerical simulations show that it is possible to control implant installation up to the depth to 4 mm with a help of backscattering probing. The applicability of OCT imaging for mesh implant control was demonstrated. Special two-stage OCT image noise-reduction algorithm, including empirical mode decomposition, was proposed for contrast increase and better abnormalities visualization by halving the signal-to-noise ratio. Joint usage of backscattered probing and OCT allows to accurately ascertain implant and surrounding tissue conditions, which reduces the risk of relapse probability.

Intravesical midurethral sling mesh erosion secondary to transvaginal mesh reconstructive surgery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sukanda Bin Jaili

2015-05-01

Conclusion: Repeated vaginal reconstructive surgery may jeopardize a primary mesh or sling, and pose a high risk of mesh erosion, which may be delayed for several years. Removal of the mesh erosion and bladder repair are feasible pervaginally with good outcome.

Mesh versus non-mesh repair of ventral abdominal hernias

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jawaid, M.A.; Talpur, A.H.

2008-01-01

To investigate the relative effectiveness of mesh and suture repair of ventral abdominal hernias in terms of clinical outcome, quality of life and rate of recurrence in both the techniques. This is a retrospective descriptive analysis of 236 patients with mesh and non-mesh repair of primary ventral hernias performed between January 2000 to December 2004 at Surgery Department, Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro. The record sheets of the patients were analyzed and data retrieved to compare the results of both techniques for short-term and long-term results. The data retrieved is statistically analyzed on SPSS version 11. There were 43 (18.22%) males and 193 (81.77%) females with a mean age of 51.79 years and a range of 59 (81-22). Para-umbilical hernia was the commonest of ventral hernia and accounted for 49.8% (n=118) of the total study population followed by incisional hernia comprising 24% (n=57) of the total number. There was a significant difference in the recurrent rate at 3 years interval with 23/101 (22.77%) recurrences in suture-repaired subjects compared to 10/135 (7.40%) in mesh repair group. Chronic pain lasting up to 1-2 years was noted in 14 patients with suture repair. Wound infection is comparatively more common (8.14%) in mesh group. The other variables such as operative and postoperative complications, total hospital stay and quality of life is also discussed. Mesh repair of ventral hernia is much superior to non-mesh suture repair in terms of recurrence and overall outcome. (author)

Surgeon Experience and Complications of Transvaginal Prolapse Mesh.

Science.gov (United States)

Kelly, Erin C; Winick-Ng, Jennifer; Welk, Blayne

2016-07-01

To measure the proportion of women with transvaginal prolapse mesh complications and their association with surgeon volume. We conducted a retrospective, population-based cohort study of all women who underwent a mesh-based prolapse procedure using administrative data (hospital procedure and physician billing records) between 2002 and 2013 in Ontario, Canada. The primary outcome was surgical revision of the mesh. Primary exposure was surgeon volume: high (greater than the 75th percentile, requiring a median of five [interquartile range 5-6] procedures per year) and very high (greater than the 90th percentile, requiring a median of 13 [interquartile range 11-14] procedures per year) volume mesh implanters were identified each year. Primary analysis was an adjusted Cox proportional hazards model. A total of 5,488 women underwent mesh implantation by 1 of 368 unique surgeons. Median follow-up time was 5.4 (interquartile range 3.0-8.0) years. We found that 218 women (4.0%) underwent mesh reoperation a median of 1.17 (interquartile range 0.58-2.90) years after implantation. The hazard of reoperation for complications was only lower for patients of very high-volume surgeons (3.0% [145/3,001] compared with 4.8% [73/2,447], adjusted hazards ratio 0.59, 95% confidence interval 0.40-0.86). In multivariable modeling, younger age, concomitant hysterectomy, blood transfusion, and increased medical comorbidity were all associated with vaginal mesh reoperation. Approximately 5% of women who underwent mesh-based prolapse surgery required reoperation for a mesh complication within 10 years. The risk of reoperation was lowest for surgeons performing 14 or more procedures per year.

Error estimation for goal-oriented spatial adaptivity for the SN equations on triangular meshes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lathouwers, D.

2011-01-01

In this paper we investigate different error estimation procedures for use within a goal oriented adaptive algorithm for the S N equations on unstructured meshes. The method is based on a dual-weighted residual approach where an appropriate adjoint problem is formulated and solved in order to obtain the importance of residual errors in the forward problem on the specific goal of interest. The forward residuals and the adjoint function are combined to obtain both economical finite element meshes tailored to the solution of the target functional as well as providing error estimates. Various approximations made to make the calculation of the adjoint angular flux more economically attractive are evaluated by comparing the performance of the resulting adaptive algorithm and the quality of the error estimators when applied to two shielding-type test problems. (author)

Symptom resolution after operative management of complications from transvaginal mesh.

Science.gov (United States)

Crosby, Erin C; Abernethy, Melinda; Berger, Mitchell B; DeLancey, John O; Fenner, Dee E; Morgan, Daniel M

2014-01-01

Complications from transvaginal mesh placed for prolapse often require operative management. The aim of this study is to describe the outcomes of vaginal mesh removal. A retrospective review of all patients having surgery by the urogynecology group in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at our institution for a complication of transvaginal mesh placed for prolapse was performed. Demographics, presenting symptoms, surgical procedures, and postoperative symptoms were abstracted. Comparative statistics were performed using the χ or Fisher's exact test with significance at Pmesh and 84 had follow-up data. The most common presenting signs and symptoms were: mesh exposure, 62% (n=56); pain, 64% (n=58); and dyspareunia, 48% (n=43). During operative management, mesh erosion was encountered unexpectedly in a second area of the vagina in 5% (n=4), in the bladder in 1% (n=1), and in the bowel in 2% (n=2). After vaginal mesh removal, 51% (n=43) had resolution of all presenting symptoms. Mesh exposure was treated successfully in 95% of patients, whereas pain was only successfully treated in 51% of patients. Removal of vaginal mesh is helpful in relieving symptoms of presentation. Patients can be reassured that exposed mesh can almost always be successfully managed surgically, but pain and dyspareunia are only resolved completely in half of patients. III.

MEDLINE MeSH Indexing: Lessons Learned from Machine Learning and Future Directions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jimeno-Yepes, Antonio; Mork, James G.; Wilkowski, Bartlomiej

2012-01-01

and analyzed the issues when using standard machine learning algorithms. We show that in some cases machine learning can improve the annotations already recommended by MTI, that machine learning based on low variance methods achieves better performance and that each MeSH heading presents a different behavior......Map and a k-NN approach called PubMed Related Citations (PRC). Our motivation is to improve the quality of MTI based on machine learning. Typical machine learning approaches fit this indexing task into text categorization. In this work, we have studied some Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) recommended by MTI...

Array architectures for iterative algorithms

Science.gov (United States)

Jagadish, Hosagrahar V.; Rao, Sailesh K.; Kailath, Thomas

1987-01-01

Regular mesh-connected arrays are shown to be isomorphic to a class of so-called regular iterative algorithms. For a wide variety of problems it is shown how to obtain appropriate iterative algorithms and then how to translate these algorithms into arrays in a systematic fashion. Several 'systolic' arrays presented in the literature are shown to be specific cases of the variety of architectures that can be derived by the techniques presented here. These include arrays for Fourier Transform, Matrix Multiplication, and Sorting.

Mesh fixation in laparoscopic incisional hernia repair: glue fixation provides attachment strength similar to absorbable tacks but differs substantially in different meshes.

Science.gov (United States)

Rieder, Erwin; Stoiber, Martin; Scheikl, Verena; Poglitsch, Marcus; Dal Borgo, Andrea; Prager, Gerhard; Schima, Heinrich

2011-01-01

Laparoscopic ventral hernia repair has gained popularity among minimally invasive surgeons. However, mesh fixation remains a matter of discussion. This study was designed to compare noninvasive fibrin-glue attachment with tack fixation of meshes developed primarily for intra-abdominal use. It was hypothesized that particular mesh structures would substantially influence detachment force. For initial evaluation, specimens of laminated polypropylene/polydioxanone meshes were anchored to porcine abdominal walls by either helical titanium tacks or absorbable tacks in vitro. A universal tensile-testing machine was used to measure tangential detachment forces (TF). For subsequent experiments of glue fixation, polypropylene/polydioxanone mesh and 4 additional meshes with diverse particular mesh structure, ie, polyvinylidene fluoride/polypropylene mesh, a titanium-coated polypropylene mesh, a polyester mesh bonded with a resorbable collagen, and a macroporous condensed PTFE mesh were evaluated. TF tests revealed that fibrin-glue attachment was not substantially different from that achieved with absorbable tacks (median TF 7.8 Newton [N], range 1.3 to 15.8 N), but only when certain open porous meshes (polyvinylidene fluoride/polypropylene mesh: median 6.2 N, range 3.4 to 10.3 N; titanium-coated polypropylene mesh: median 5.2 N, range 2.1 to 11.7 N) were used. Meshes coated by an anti-adhesive barrier (polypropylene/polydioxanone mesh: median 3.1 N, range 1.7 to 5.8 N; polyester mesh bonded with a resorbable collagen: median 1.3 N, range 0.5 to 1.9 N), or the condensed PTFE mesh (median 3.1 N, range 2.1 to 7.0 N) provided a significantly lower TF (p < 0.01). Fibrin glue appears to be an appealing noninvasive option for mesh fixation in laparoscopic ventral hernia repair, but only if appropriate meshes are used. Glue can also serve as an adjunct to mechanical fixation to reduce the number of invasive tacks. Copyright © 2010 American College of Surgeons. Published by Elsevier

3-D inversion of airborne electromagnetic data parallelized and accelerated by local mesh and adaptive soundings

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Dikun; Oldenburg, Douglas W.; Haber, Eldad

2014-03-01

Airborne electromagnetic (AEM) methods are highly efficient tools for assessing the Earth's conductivity structures in a large area at low cost. However, the configuration of AEM measurements, which typically have widely distributed transmitter-receiver pairs, makes the rigorous modelling and interpretation extremely time-consuming in 3-D. Excessive overcomputing can occur when working on a large mesh covering the entire survey area and inverting all soundings in the data set. We propose two improvements. The first is to use a locally optimized mesh for each AEM sounding for the forward modelling and calculation of sensitivity. This dedicated local mesh is small with fine cells near the sounding location and coarse cells far away in accordance with EM diffusion and the geometric decay of the signals. Once the forward problem is solved on the local meshes, the sensitivity for the inversion on the global mesh is available through quick interpolation. Using local meshes for AEM forward modelling avoids unnecessary computing on fine cells on a global mesh that are far away from the sounding location. Since local meshes are highly independent, the forward modelling can be efficiently parallelized over an array of processors. The second improvement is random and dynamic down-sampling of the soundings. Each inversion iteration only uses a random subset of the soundings, and the subset is reselected for every iteration. The number of soundings in the random subset, determined by an adaptive algorithm, is tied to the degree of model regularization. This minimizes the overcomputing caused by working with redundant soundings. Our methods are compared against conventional methods and tested with a synthetic example. We also invert a field data set that was previously considered to be too large to be practically inverted in 3-D. These examples show that our methodology can dramatically reduce the processing time of 3-D inversion to a practical level without losing resolution

Bilateral Laparoscopic Totally Extraperitoneal Repair Without Mesh Fixation

OpenAIRE

Dehal, Ahmed; Woodward, Brandon; Johna, Samir; Yamanishi, Frank

2014-01-01

Background and Objectives: Mesh fixation during laparoscopic totally extraperitoneal repair is thought to be necessary to prevent recurrence. However, mesh fixation may increase postoperative chronic pain. This study aimed to describe the experience of a single surgeon at our institution performing this operation. Methods: We performed a retrospective review of the medical records of all patients who underwent bilateral laparoscopic totally extraperitoneal repair without mesh fixation for ing...

Prolapse Recurrence after Transvaginal Mesh Removal.

Science.gov (United States)

Rawlings, Tanner; Lavelle, Rebecca S; Coskun, Burhan; Alhalabi, Feras; Zimmern, Philippe E

2015-11-01

We determined the rate of pelvic organ prolapse recurrence after transvaginal mesh removal. Following institutional review board approval a longitudinally collected database of women undergoing transvaginal mesh removal for complications after transvaginal mesh placement with at least 1 year minimum followup was queried for pelvic organ prolapse recurrence. Recurrent prolapse was defined as greater than stage 1 on examination or the need for reoperation at the site of transvaginal mesh removal. Outcome measures were based on POP-Q (Pelvic Organ Prolapse Quantification System) at the last visit. Patients were grouped into 3 groups, including group 1--recurrent prolapse in the same compartment as transvaginal mesh removal, 2--persistent prolapse and 3--prolapse in a compartment different than transvaginal mesh removal. Of 73 women 52 met study inclusion criteria from 2007 to 2013, including 73% who presented with multiple indications for transvaginal mesh removal. The mean interval between insertion and removal was 45 months (range 10 to 165). Overall mean followup after transvaginal mesh removal was 30 months (range 12 to 84). In group 1 (recurrent prolapse) the rate was 15% (6 of 40 patients). Four women underwent surgery for recurrent prolapse at a mean 7 of months (range 5 to 10). Two patients elected observation. The rate of persistent prolapse (group 2) was 23% (12 of 52 patients). Three women underwent prolapse reoperation at a mean of 10 months (range 8 to 12). In group 3 (de novo/different compartment prolapse) the rate was 6% (3 of 52 patients). One woman underwent surgical repair at 52 months. At a mean 2.5-year followup 62% of patients (32 of 52) did not have recurrent or persistent prolapse after transvaginal mesh removal and 85% (44 of 52) did not undergo any further procedure for prolapse. Specifically for pelvic organ prolapse in the same compartment as transvaginal mesh removal 12% of patients had recurrence, of whom 8% underwent prolapse repair

Connectivity editing for quad-dominant meshes

KAUST Repository

Peng, Chihan

2013-08-01

We propose a connectivity editing framework for quad-dominant meshes. In our framework, the user can edit the mesh connectivity to control the location, type, and number of irregular vertices (with more or fewer than four neighbors) and irregular faces (non-quads). We provide a theoretical analysis of the problem, discuss what edits are possible and impossible, and describe how to implement an editing framework that realizes all possible editing operations. In the results, we show example edits and illustrate the advantages and disadvantages of different strategies for quad-dominant mesh design. © 2013 The Author(s) Computer Graphics Forum © 2013 The Eurographics Association and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Polygonal Prism Mesh in the Viscous Layers for the Polyhedral Mesh Generator, PolyGen

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Sang Yong; Park, Chan Eok; Kim, Shin Whan

2015-01-01

Polyhedral mesh has been known to have some benefits over the tetrahedral mesh. Efforts have been made to set up a polyhedral mesh generation system with open source programs SALOME and TetGen. The evaluation has shown that the polyhedral mesh generation system is promising. But it is necessary to extend the capability of the system to handle the viscous layers to be a generalized mesh generator. A brief review to the previous works on the mesh generation for the viscous layers will be made in section 2. Several challenging issues for the polygonal prism mesh generation will be discussed as well. The procedure to generate a polygonal prism mesh will be discussed in detail in section 3. Conclusion will be followed in section 4. A procedure to generate meshes in the viscous layers with PolyGen has been successfully designed. But more efforts have to be exercised to find the best way for the generating meshes for viscous layers. Using the extrusion direction of the STL data will the first of the trials in the near future

Divergence-free MHD on unstructured meshes using high order finite volume schemes based on multidimensional Riemann solvers

Science.gov (United States)

Balsara, Dinshaw S.; Dumbser, Michael

2015-10-01

Several advances have been reported in the recent literature on divergence-free finite volume schemes for Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). Almost all of these advances are restricted to structured meshes. To retain full geometric versatility, however, it is also very important to make analogous advances in divergence-free schemes for MHD on unstructured meshes. Such schemes utilize a staggered Yee-type mesh, where all hydrodynamic quantities (mass, momentum and energy density) are cell-centered, while the magnetic fields are face-centered and the electric fields, which are so useful for the time update of the magnetic field, are centered at the edges. Three important advances are brought together in this paper in order to make it possible to have high order accurate finite volume schemes for the MHD equations on unstructured meshes. First, it is shown that a divergence-free WENO reconstruction of the magnetic field can be developed for unstructured meshes in two and three space dimensions using a classical cell-centered WENO algorithm, without the need to do a WENO reconstruction for the magnetic field on the faces. This is achieved via a novel constrained L2-projection operator that is used in each time step as a postprocessor of the cell-centered WENO reconstruction so that the magnetic field becomes locally and globally divergence free. Second, it is shown that recently-developed genuinely multidimensional Riemann solvers (called MuSIC Riemann solvers) can be used on unstructured meshes to obtain a multidimensionally upwinded representation of the electric field at each edge. Third, the above two innovations work well together with a high order accurate one-step ADER time stepping strategy, which requires the divergence-free nonlinear WENO reconstruction procedure to be carried out only once per time step. The resulting divergence-free ADER-WENO schemes with MuSIC Riemann solvers give us an efficient and easily-implemented strategy for divergence-free MHD on

A hybrid multiview stereo algorithm for modeling urban scenes.

Science.gov (United States)

Lafarge, Florent; Keriven, Renaud; Brédif, Mathieu; Vu, Hoang-Hiep

2013-01-01

We present an original multiview stereo reconstruction algorithm which allows the 3D-modeling of urban scenes as a combination of meshes and geometric primitives. The method provides a compact model while preserving details: Irregular elements such as statues and ornaments are described by meshes, whereas regular structures such as columns and walls are described by primitives (planes, spheres, cylinders, cones, and tori). We adopt a two-step strategy consisting first in segmenting the initial meshbased surface using a multilabel Markov Random Field-based model and second in sampling primitive and mesh components simultaneously on the obtained partition by a Jump-Diffusion process. The quality of a reconstruction is measured by a multi-object energy model which takes into account both photo-consistency and semantic considerations (i.e., geometry and shape layout). The segmentation and sampling steps are embedded into an iterative refinement procedure which provides an increasingly accurate hybrid representation. Experimental results on complex urban structures and large scenes are presented and compared to state-of-the-art multiview stereo meshing algorithms.

An unstructured-mesh finite-volume MPDATA for compressible atmospheric dynamics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kühnlein, Christian; Smolarkiewicz, Piotr K.

2017-01-01

An advancement of the unstructured-mesh finite-volume MPDATA (Multidimensional Positive Definite Advection Transport Algorithm) is presented that formulates the error-compensative pseudo-velocity of the scheme to rely only on face-normal advective fluxes to the dual cells, in contrast to the full vector employed in previous implementations. This is essentially achieved by expressing the temporal truncation error underlying the pseudo-velocity in a form consistent with the flux-divergence of the governing conservation law. The development is especially important for integrating fluid dynamics equations on non-rectilinear meshes whenever face-normal advective mass fluxes are employed for transport compatible with mass continuity—the latter being essential for flux-form schemes. In particular, the proposed formulation enables large-time-step semi-implicit finite-volume integration of the compressible Euler equations using MPDATA on arbitrary hybrid computational meshes. Furthermore, it facilitates multiple error-compensative iterations of the finite-volume MPDATA and improved overall accuracy. The advancement combines straightforwardly with earlier developments, such as the nonoscillatory option, the infinite-gauge variant, and moving curvilinear meshes. A comprehensive description of the scheme is provided for a hybrid horizontally-unstructured vertically-structured computational mesh for efficient global atmospheric flow modelling. The proposed finite-volume MPDATA is verified using selected 3D global atmospheric benchmark simulations, representative of hydrostatic and non-hydrostatic flow regimes. Besides the added capabilities, the scheme retains fully the efficacy of established finite-volume MPDATA formulations.

An unstructured-mesh finite-volume MPDATA for compressible atmospheric dynamics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kühnlein, Christian, E-mail: christian.kuehnlein@ecmwf.int; Smolarkiewicz, Piotr K., E-mail: piotr.smolarkiewicz@ecmwf.int

2017-04-01

An advancement of the unstructured-mesh finite-volume MPDATA (Multidimensional Positive Definite Advection Transport Algorithm) is presented that formulates the error-compensative pseudo-velocity of the scheme to rely only on face-normal advective fluxes to the dual cells, in contrast to the full vector employed in previous implementations. This is essentially achieved by expressing the temporal truncation error underlying the pseudo-velocity in a form consistent with the flux-divergence of the governing conservation law. The development is especially important for integrating fluid dynamics equations on non-rectilinear meshes whenever face-normal advective mass fluxes are employed for transport compatible with mass continuity—the latter being essential for flux-form schemes. In particular, the proposed formulation enables large-time-step semi-implicit finite-volume integration of the compressible Euler equations using MPDATA on arbitrary hybrid computational meshes. Furthermore, it facilitates multiple error-compensative iterations of the finite-volume MPDATA and improved overall accuracy. The advancement combines straightforwardly with earlier developments, such as the nonoscillatory option, the infinite-gauge variant, and moving curvilinear meshes. A comprehensive description of the scheme is provided for a hybrid horizontally-unstructured vertically-structured computational mesh for efficient global atmospheric flow modelling. The proposed finite-volume MPDATA is verified using selected 3D global atmospheric benchmark simulations, representative of hydrostatic and non-hydrostatic flow regimes. Besides the added capabilities, the scheme retains fully the efficacy of established finite-volume MPDATA formulations.

Reduced order modelling techniques for mesh movement strategies as applied to fluid structure interactions

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Bogaers, Alfred EJ

2010-01-01

Full Text Available of Laplacian or Bi-harmonic equations [7], radial basis function (RBF) interpolation [3, 15] or through mesh optimization [1, 6]. Despite the successes of these algorithms in reducing the frequency and necessity for re- meshing, they still account for a... simulations of a real system. What makes POD remarkable is that the selected modes are not only appropriate but make up the optimal linear basis for describing any given system. POD has been applied in a wide range of disciplines including image processing...

An entropy stable nodal discontinuous Galerkin method for the two dimensional shallow water equations on unstructured curvilinear meshes with discontinuous bathymetry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wintermeyer, Niklas [Mathematisches Institut, Universität zu Köln, Weyertal 86-90, 50931 Köln (Germany); Winters, Andrew R., E-mail: awinters@math.uni-koeln.de [Mathematisches Institut, Universität zu Köln, Weyertal 86-90, 50931 Köln (Germany); Gassner, Gregor J. [Mathematisches Institut, Universität zu Köln, Weyertal 86-90, 50931 Köln (Germany); Kopriva, David A. [Department of Mathematics, The Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306 (United States)

2017-07-01

We design an arbitrary high-order accurate nodal discontinuous Galerkin spectral element approximation for the non-linear two dimensional shallow water equations with non-constant, possibly discontinuous, bathymetry on unstructured, possibly curved, quadrilateral meshes. The scheme is derived from an equivalent flux differencing formulation of the split form of the equations. We prove that this discretization exactly preserves the local mass and momentum. Furthermore, combined with a special numerical interface flux function, the method exactly preserves the mathematical entropy, which is the total energy for the shallow water equations. By adding a specific form of interface dissipation to the baseline entropy conserving scheme we create a provably entropy stable scheme. That is, the numerical scheme discretely satisfies the second law of thermodynamics. Finally, with a particular discretization of the bathymetry source term we prove that the numerical approximation is well-balanced. We provide numerical examples that verify the theoretical findings and furthermore provide an application of the scheme for a partial break of a curved dam test problem.

A parallel algorithm for transient solid dynamics simulations with contact detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Attaway, S.; Hendrickson, B.; Plimpton, S.; Gardner, D.; Vaughan, C.; Heinstein, M.; Peery, J.

1996-01-01

Solid dynamics simulations with Lagrangian finite elements are used to model a wide variety of problems, such as the calculation of impact damage to shipping containers for nuclear waste and the analysis of vehicular crashes. Using parallel computers for these simulations has been hindered by the difficulty of searching efficiently for material surface contacts in parallel. A new parallel algorithm for calculation of arbitrary material contacts in finite element simulations has been developed and implemented in the PRONTO3D transient solid dynamics code. This paper will explore some of the issues involved in developing efficient, portable, parallel finite element models for nonlinear transient solid dynamics simulations. The contact-detection problem poses interesting challenges for efficient implementation of a solid dynamics simulation on a parallel computer. The finite element mesh is typically partitioned so that each processor owns a localized region of the finite element mesh. This mesh partitioning is optimal for the finite element portion of the calculation since each processor must communicate only with the few connected neighboring processors that share boundaries with the decomposed mesh. However, contacts can occur between surfaces that may be owned by any two arbitrary processors. Hence, a global search across all processors is required at every time step to search for these contacts. Load-imbalance can become a problem since the finite element decomposition divides the volumetric mesh evenly across processors but typically leaves the surface elements unevenly distributed. In practice, these complications have been limiting factors in the performance and scalability of transient solid dynamics on massively parallel computers. In this paper the authors present a new parallel algorithm for contact detection that overcomes many of these limitations

Practical implementation of tetrahedral mesh reconstruction in emission tomography

Science.gov (United States)

Boutchko, R.; Sitek, A.; Gullberg, G. T.

2013-05-01

This paper presents a practical implementation of image reconstruction on tetrahedral meshes optimized for emission computed tomography with parallel beam geometry. Tetrahedral mesh built on a point cloud is a convenient image representation method, intrinsically three-dimensional and with a multi-level resolution property. Image intensities are defined at the mesh nodes and linearly interpolated inside each tetrahedron. For the given mesh geometry, the intensities can be computed directly from tomographic projections using iterative reconstruction algorithms with a system matrix calculated using an exact analytical formula. The mesh geometry is optimized for a specific patient using a two stage process. First, a noisy image is reconstructed on a finely-spaced uniform cloud. Then, the geometry of the representation is adaptively transformed through boundary-preserving node motion and elimination. Nodes are removed in constant intensity regions, merged along the boundaries, and moved in the direction of the mean local intensity gradient in order to provide higher node density in the boundary regions. Attenuation correction and detector geometric response are included in the system matrix. Once the mesh geometry is optimized, it is used to generate the final system matrix for ML-EM reconstruction of node intensities and for visualization of the reconstructed images. In dynamic PET or SPECT imaging, the system matrix generation procedure is performed using a quasi-static sinogram, generated by summing projection data from multiple time frames. This system matrix is then used to reconstruct the individual time frame projections. Performance of the new method is evaluated by reconstructing simulated projections of the NCAT phantom and the method is then applied to dynamic SPECT phantom and patient studies and to a dynamic microPET rat study. Tetrahedral mesh-based images are compared to the standard voxel-based reconstruction for both high and low signal-to-noise ratio

Practical implementation of tetrahedral mesh reconstruction in emission tomography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boutchko, R; Gullberg, G T; Sitek, A

2013-01-01

This paper presents a practical implementation of image reconstruction on tetrahedral meshes optimized for emission computed tomography with parallel beam geometry. Tetrahedral mesh built on a point cloud is a convenient image representation method, intrinsically three-dimensional and with a multi-level resolution property. Image intensities are defined at the mesh nodes and linearly interpolated inside each tetrahedron. For the given mesh geometry, the intensities can be computed directly from tomographic projections using iterative reconstruction algorithms with a system matrix calculated using an exact analytical formula. The mesh geometry is optimized for a specific patient using a two stage process. First, a noisy image is reconstructed on a finely-spaced uniform cloud. Then, the geometry of the representation is adaptively transformed through boundary-preserving node motion and elimination. Nodes are removed in constant intensity regions, merged along the boundaries, and moved in the direction of the mean local intensity gradient in order to provide higher node density in the boundary regions. Attenuation correction and detector geometric response are included in the system matrix. Once the mesh geometry is optimized, it is used to generate the final system matrix for ML-EM reconstruction of node intensities and for visualization of the reconstructed images. In dynamic PET or SPECT imaging, the system matrix generation procedure is performed using a quasi-static sinogram, generated by summing projection data from multiple time frames. This system matrix is then used to reconstruct the individual time frame projections. Performance of the new method is evaluated by reconstructing simulated projections of the NCAT phantom and the method is then applied to dynamic SPECT phantom and patient studies and to a dynamic microPET rat study. Tetrahedral mesh-based images are compared to the standard voxel-based reconstruction for both high and low signal-to-noise ratio

Management of complications arising from transvaginal mesh kit procedures: a tertiary referral center's experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Hurtado, Eric A; Appell, Rodney A

2009-01-01

This case series' purpose is to review a referral center's experience with complications from mesh kits. A chart review of 12 patients who presented with complications associated with transvaginal mesh kit procedures was performed. All patients underwent complete surgical removal of the mesh to treat mesh exposure, pain, or vaginal bleeding/discharge followed by an anterior or posterior repair. The mean follow-up time after surgery was 3.4 months. Eight of 12 patients had mesh that had formed a fibrotic band. Six of 12 patients had complete resolution of pain. Of the nine patients with mesh exposure, all required significant resection of the vaginal wall. No further mesh exposure occurred. The use of transvaginal mesh kits may cause previously undescribed complications such as pelvic/vaginal pain or large extrusions requiring complete removal. Removal of all mesh except the arms may cure or significantly improve these problems.

Mesh Denoising based on Normal Voting Tensor and Binary Optimization.

Science.gov (United States)

Yadav, Sunil Kumar; Reitebuch, Ulrich; Polthier, Konrad

2017-08-17

This paper presents a two-stage mesh denoising algorithm. Unlike other traditional averaging approaches, our approach uses an element-based normal voting tensor to compute smooth surfaces. By introducing a binary optimization on the proposed tensor together with a local binary neighborhood concept, our algorithm better retains sharp features and produces smoother umbilical regions than previous approaches. On top of that, we provide a stochastic analysis on the different kinds of noise based on the average edge length. The quantitative results demonstrate that the performance of our method is better compared to state-of-the-art smoothing approaches.

Optimization of Algorithms Using Extensions of Dynamic Programming

KAUST Repository

AbouEisha, Hassan M.

2017-04-09

We study and answer questions related to the complexity of various important problems such as: multi-frontal solvers of hp-adaptive finite element method, sorting and majority. We advocate the use of dynamic programming as a viable tool to study optimal algorithms for these problems. The main approach used to attack these problems is modeling classes of algorithms that may solve this problem using a discrete model of computation then defining cost functions on this discrete structure that reflect different complexity measures of the represented algorithms. As a last step, dynamic programming algorithms are designed and used to optimize those models (algorithms) and to obtain exact results on the complexity of the studied problems. The first part of the thesis presents a novel model of computation (element partition tree) that represents a class of algorithms for multi-frontal solvers along with cost functions reflecting various complexity measures such as: time and space. It then introduces dynamic programming algorithms for multi-stage and bi-criteria optimization of element partition trees. In addition, it presents results based on optimal element partition trees for famous benchmark meshes such as: meshes with point and edge singularities. New improved heuristics for those benchmark meshes were ob- tained based on insights of the optimal results found by our algorithms. The second part of the thesis starts by introducing a general problem where different problems can be reduced to and show how to use a decision table to model such problem. We describe how decision trees and decision tests for this table correspond to adaptive and non-adaptive algorithms for the original problem. We present exact bounds on the average time complexity of adaptive algorithms for the eight elements sorting problem. Then bounds on adaptive and non-adaptive algorithms for a variant of the majority problem are introduced. Adaptive algorithms are modeled as decision trees whose depth

OpenCL-based vicinity computation for 3D multiresolution mesh compression

Science.gov (United States)

Hachicha, Soumaya; Elkefi, Akram; Ben Amar, Chokri

2017-03-01

3D multiresolution mesh compression systems are still widely addressed in many domains. These systems are more and more requiring volumetric data to be processed in real-time. Therefore, the performance is becoming constrained by material resources usage and an overall reduction in the computational time. In this paper, our contribution entirely lies on computing, in real-time, triangles neighborhood of 3D progressive meshes for a robust compression algorithm based on the scan-based wavelet transform(WT) technique. The originality of this latter algorithm is to compute the WT with minimum memory usage by processing data as they are acquired. However, with large data, this technique is considered poor in term of computational complexity. For that, this work exploits the GPU to accelerate the computation using OpenCL as a heterogeneous programming language. Experiments demonstrate that, aside from the portability across various platforms and the flexibility guaranteed by the OpenCL-based implementation, this method can improve performance gain in speedup factor of 5 compared to the sequential CPU implementation.

An improved algorithm for searching all minimal cuts in modified networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yeh, W.-C.

2008-01-01

A modified network is an updated network after inserting a branch string (a special path) between two nodes in the original network. Modifications are common for network expansion or reinforcement evaluation and planning. The problem of searching all minimal cuts (MCs) in a modified network is discussed and solved in this study. The existing best-known methods for solving this problem either needed extensive comparison and verification or failed to solve some special but important cases. Therefore, a more efficient, intuitive and generalized method for searching all MCs without an extensive research procedure is proposed. In this study, we first develop an intuitive algorithm based upon the reformation of all MCs in the original network to search for all MCs in a modified network. Next, the correctness of the proposed algorithm will be analyzed and proven. The computational complexity of the proposed algorithm is analyzed and compared with the existing best-known methods. Finally, two examples illustrate how all MCs are generated in a modified network using the information of all of the MCs in the corresponding original network

Unbiased Sampling and Meshing of Isosurfaces

KAUST Repository

Yan, Dongming

2014-05-07

In this paper, we present a new technique to generate unbiased samples on isosurfaces. An isosurface, F(x,y,z) = c , of a function, F , is implicitly defined by trilinear interpolation of background grid points. The key idea of our approach is that of treating the isosurface within a grid cell as a graph (height) function in one of the three coordinate axis directions, restricted to where the slope is not too high, and integrating / sampling from each of these three. We use this unbiased sampling algorithm for applications in Monte Carlo integration, Poisson-disk sampling, and isosurface meshing.

Unbiased Sampling and Meshing of Isosurfaces

KAUST Repository

Yan, Dongming; Wallner, Johannes; Wonka, Peter

2014-01-01

In this paper, we present a new technique to generate unbiased samples on isosurfaces. An isosurface, F(x,y,z) = c , of a function, F , is implicitly defined by trilinear interpolation of background grid points. The key idea of our approach is that of treating the isosurface within a grid cell as a graph (height) function in one of the three coordinate axis directions, restricted to where the slope is not too high, and integrating / sampling from each of these three. We use this unbiased sampling algorithm for applications in Monte Carlo integration, Poisson-disk sampling, and isosurface meshing.

Coupling parallel adaptive mesh refinement with a nonoverlapping domain decomposition solver

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Kůs, Pavel; Šístek, Jakub

2017-01-01

Roč. 110, August (2017), s. 34-54 ISSN 0965-9978 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA14-02067S Institutional support: RVO:67985840 Keywords : adaptive mesh refinement * parallel algorithms * domain decomposition Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics OBOR OECD: Applied mathematics Impact factor: 3.000, year: 2016 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965997816305737

Coupling parallel adaptive mesh refinement with a nonoverlapping domain decomposition solver

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Kůs, Pavel; Šístek, Jakub

2017-01-01

Roč. 110, August (2017), s. 34-54 ISSN 0965-9978 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA14-02067S Institutional support: RVO:67985840 Keywords : adaptive mesh refinement * parallel algorithms * domain decomposition Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics OBOR OECD: Applied mathematics Impact factor: 3.000, year: 2016 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ article /pii/S0965997816305737

Laparoscopy-like operative vaginoscopy: a new approach to manage mesh erosions.

Science.gov (United States)

Billone, Valentina; Amorim-Costa, Célia; Campos, Sara; Rabischong, Benoĭt; Bourdel, Nicolas; Canis, Michel; Botchorishvili, Revaz

2015-01-01

Mesh erosion through the vagina is the most common complication of synthetic mesh used for pelvic organ prolapse repair. However, conventional transvaginal mesh excision has many technical limitations. We aimed at creating and describing a new surgical technique for transvaginal removal of exposed mesh that would enable better exposition and access, thus facilitating optimal treatment. A step-by-step video showing the technique. A university tertiary care hospital. Five patients previously submitted to pelvic organ prolapse repair using synthetic mesh, presenting mesh erosion through the vagina. Mesh excision using a laparoscopy-like operative vaginoscopy in which standard laparoscopic instruments are used through a single-incision laparoscopic surgery port device placed in the vagina. In all cases, a very good exposure of the mesh was achieved, a minimal tissue traction was required, and the procedures were performed in a very ergonomic way. All the patients were discharged on the same day of the surgery and had a painless postoperative course. So far, there have been no cases of relapse. This seems to be a simple, cheap, and valuable minimally invasive technique with many advantages in comparison with the conventional approach. More cases and time are necessary to access its long-term efficacy. It may possibly be used for the management of other conditions. Copyright © 2015 AAGL. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Use of mesh in laparoscopic paraesophageal hernia repair

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Müller-Stich, Beat P.; Kenngott, Hannes G.; Gondan, Matthias

2015-01-01

Introduction. Mesh augmentation seems to reduce recurrences following laparoscopic paraesophageal hernia repair (LPHR). However, there is an uncertain risk of mesh-associated complications. Risk-benefit analysis might solve the dilemma. Materials and Methods. A systematic literature search...... potential benefits of LMAH. All data regarding LMAH were used to estimate risk of mesh-associated complications. Risk-benefit analysis was performed using a Markov Monte Carlo decision-analytic model. Results. Meta-analysis of 3 RCTs and 9 OCSs including 915 patients revealed a significantly lower...

MeSH Now: automatic MeSH indexing at PubMed scale via learning to rank.

Science.gov (United States)

Mao, Yuqing; Lu, Zhiyong

2017-04-17

MeSH indexing is the task of assigning relevant MeSH terms based on a manual reading of scholarly publications by human indexers. The task is highly important for improving literature retrieval and many other scientific investigations in biomedical research. Unfortunately, given its manual nature, the process of MeSH indexing is both time-consuming (new articles are not immediately indexed until 2 or 3 months later) and costly (approximately ten dollars per article). In response, automatic indexing by computers has been previously proposed and attempted but remains challenging. In order to advance the state of the art in automatic MeSH indexing, a community-wide shared task called BioASQ was recently organized. We propose MeSH Now, an integrated approach that first uses multiple strategies to generate a combined list of candidate MeSH terms for a target article. Through a novel learning-to-rank framework, MeSH Now then ranks the list of candidate terms based on their relevance to the target article. Finally, MeSH Now selects the highest-ranked MeSH terms via a post-processing module. We assessed MeSH Now on two separate benchmarking datasets using traditional precision, recall and F 1 -score metrics. In both evaluations, MeSH Now consistently achieved over 0.60 in F-score, ranging from 0.610 to 0.612. Furthermore, additional experiments show that MeSH Now can be optimized by parallel computing in order to process MEDLINE documents on a large scale. We conclude that MeSH Now is a robust approach with state-of-the-art performance for automatic MeSH indexing and that MeSH Now is capable of processing PubMed scale documents within a reasonable time frame. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/CBBresearch/Lu/Demo/MeSHNow/ .

Recurrence and Pain after Mesh Repair of Inguinal Hernias

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Abstract. Background: Surgery for inguinal hernias has ... repair. Methods: The study was conducted on all inguinal hernia patients operated between 1st. October ... bilateral (1.6%). Only 101 .... Open Mesh Versus Laparoscopic Mesh. Repair ...

In-vitro examination of the biocompatibility of fibroblast cell lines on alloplastic meshes and sterilized polyester mosquito mesh.

Science.gov (United States)

Wiessner, R; Kleber, T; Ekwelle, N; Ludwig, K; Richter, D-U

2017-06-01

The use of alloplastic implants for tissue strengthening when treating hernias is an established therapy worldwide. Despite the high incidence of hernias in Africa and Asia, the implantation of costly mesh netting is not financially feasible. Because of that various investigative groups have examined the use of sterilized mosquito netting. The animal experiments as well as the clinical trials have both shown equivalent short- and long-term results. The goal of this paper is the comparison of biocompatibility of human fibroblasts on the established commercially available nets and on sterilized polyester mosquito mesh over a period of 12 weeks. Three commercially available plastic mesh types and a gas-sterilized mosquito polyethylenterephtalate (polyester) mesh were examined. Human fibroblasts from subcutaneous healthy tissue were used. Various tests for evaluating the growth behavior and the cell morphology of human fibroblasts were conducted. The semi-quantitative (light microscopy) and qualitative (scanning electron microscopy) analyses were performed after 1 week and then again after 12 weeks. The cell proliferation and cytotoxicity of the implants were investigated with the help of the 5'-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU)-cell proliferation test and the LDH-cytotoxicity test. The number of live cells per ml was determined with the Bürker counting chamber. In addition, analyses were made of the cell metabolism (oxidative stress) by measuring the pH value, hydrogen peroxide, and glycolysis. After 12 weeks, a proliferation of fibroblasts on all mesh is documented. No mesh showed a complete apoptosis of the cells. This qualitative observation could be confirmed quantitatively in a biochemical assay by marking the proliferating cells with BrdU. The biochemical analysis brought the proof that the materials used, including the polyester of the mosquito mesh, are not cytotoxic for the fibroblasts. The vitality of the cells was between 94 and 98%. The glucose metabolism

CALCULATION ALGORITHM FOR STUDYING EFFORTS IN THE 4R SPHERICAL QUADRILATERAL MECHANISMS BECAUSE OF TECHNICAL DEVIATIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ion BULAC

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Due to technical deviations, in the elements of the 4R spatial spherical mechanism appear efforts thatadditionally loads the mechanism, efforts that can be determined with the calculation algorithm that will bepresented in this paper

Joint Graph Layouts for Visualizing Collections of Segmented Meshes

KAUST Repository

Ren, Jing

2017-09-12

We present a novel and efficient approach for computing joint graph layouts and then use it to visualize collections of segmented meshes. Our joint graph layout algorithm takes as input the adjacency matrices for a set of graphs along with partial, possibly soft, correspondences between nodes of different graphs. We then use a two stage procedure, where in the first step, we extend spectral graph drawing to include a consistency term so that a collection of graphs can be handled jointly. Our second step extends metric multi-dimensional scaling with stress majorization to the joint layout setting, while using the output of the spectral approach as initialization. Further, we discuss a user interface for exploring a collection of graphs. Finally, we show multiple example visualizations of graphs stemming from collections of segmented meshes and we present qualitative and quantitative comparisons with previous work.

Joint Graph Layouts for Visualizing Collections of Segmented Meshes

KAUST Repository

Ren, Jing; Schneider, Jens; Ovsjanikov, Maks; Wonka, Peter

2017-01-01

We present a novel and efficient approach for computing joint graph layouts and then use it to visualize collections of segmented meshes. Our joint graph layout algorithm takes as input the adjacency matrices for a set of graphs along with partial, possibly soft, correspondences between nodes of different graphs. We then use a two stage procedure, where in the first step, we extend spectral graph drawing to include a consistency term so that a collection of graphs can be handled jointly. Our second step extends metric multi-dimensional scaling with stress majorization to the joint layout setting, while using the output of the spectral approach as initialization. Further, we discuss a user interface for exploring a collection of graphs. Finally, we show multiple example visualizations of graphs stemming from collections of segmented meshes and we present qualitative and quantitative comparisons with previous work.

SU-D-207-04: GPU-Based 4D Cone-Beam CT Reconstruction Using Adaptive Meshing Method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhong, Z; Gu, X; Iyengar, P; Mao, W; Wang, J; Guo, X

2015-01-01

Purpose: Due to the limited number of projections at each phase, the image quality of a four-dimensional cone-beam CT (4D-CBCT) is often degraded, which decreases the accuracy of subsequent motion modeling. One of the promising methods is the simultaneous motion estimation and image reconstruction (SMEIR) approach. The objective of this work is to enhance the computational speed of the SMEIR algorithm using adaptive feature-based tetrahedral meshing and GPU-based parallelization. Methods: The first step is to generate the tetrahedral mesh based on the features of a reference phase 4D-CBCT, so that the deformation can be well captured and accurately diffused from the mesh vertices to voxels of the image volume. After the mesh generation, the updated motion model and other phases of 4D-CBCT can be obtained by matching the 4D-CBCT projection images at each phase with the corresponding forward projections of the deformed reference phase of 4D-CBCT. The entire process of this 4D-CBCT reconstruction method is implemented on GPU, resulting in significantly increasing the computational efficiency due to its tremendous parallel computing ability. Results: A 4D XCAT digital phantom was used to test the proposed mesh-based image reconstruction algorithm. The image Result shows both bone structures and inside of the lung are well-preserved and the tumor position can be well captured. Compared to the previous voxel-based CPU implementation of SMEIR, the proposed method is about 157 times faster for reconstructing a 10 -phase 4D-CBCT with dimension 256×256×150. Conclusion: The GPU-based parallel 4D CBCT reconstruction method uses the feature-based mesh for estimating motion model and demonstrates equivalent image Result with previous voxel-based SMEIR approach, with significantly improved computational speed

Crack growth simulation for plural crack using hexahedral mesh generation technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Orita, Y; Wada, Y; Kikuchi, M

2010-01-01

This paper describes a surface crack growth simulation using a new mesh generation technique. The generated mesh is constituted of all hexahedral elements. Hexahedral elements are suitable for an analysis of fracture mechanics parameters, i.e. stress intensity factor. The advantage of a hexahedral mesh is good accuracy of an analysis and less number of degrees of freedoms than a tetrahedral mesh. In this study, a plural crack growth simulation is computed using the hexahedral mesh and its distribution of stress intensity factor is investigated.

Reference Computational Meshing Strategy for Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation of Departure from Nucleate BoilingReference Computational Meshing Strategy for Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation of Departure from Nucleate Boiling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pointer, William David [ORNL

2017-08-01

The objective of this effort is to establish a strategy and process for generation of suitable computational mesh for computational fluid dynamics simulations of departure from nucleate boiling in a 5 by 5 fuel rod assembly held in place by PWR mixing vane spacer grids. This mesh generation process will support ongoing efforts to develop, demonstrate and validate advanced multi-phase computational fluid dynamics methods that enable more robust identification of dryout conditions and DNB occurrence.Building upon prior efforts and experience, multiple computational meshes were developed using the native mesh generation capabilities of the commercial CFD code STAR-CCM+. These meshes were used to simulate two test cases from the Westinghouse 5 by 5 rod bundle facility. The sensitivity of predicted quantities of interest to the mesh resolution was then established using two evaluation methods, the Grid Convergence Index method and the Least Squares method. This evaluation suggests that the Least Squares method can reliably establish the uncertainty associated with local parameters such as vector velocity components at a point in the domain or surface averaged quantities such as outlet velocity magnitude. However, neither method is suitable for characterization of uncertainty in global extrema such as peak fuel surface temperature, primarily because such parameters are not necessarily associated with a fixed point in space. This shortcoming is significant because the current generation algorithm for identification of DNB event conditions relies on identification of such global extrema. Ongoing efforts to identify DNB based on local surface conditions will address this challenge

A local level set method based on a finite element method for unstructured meshes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ngo, Long Cu; Choi, Hyoung Gwon

2016-01-01

A local level set method for unstructured meshes has been implemented by using a finite element method. A least-square weighted residual method was employed for implicit discretization to solve the level set advection equation. By contrast, a direct re-initialization method, which is directly applicable to the local level set method for unstructured meshes, was adopted to re-correct the level set function to become a signed distance function after advection. The proposed algorithm was constructed such that the advection and direct reinitialization steps were conducted only for nodes inside the narrow band around the interface. Therefore, in the advection step, the Gauss–Seidel method was used to update the level set function using a node-by-node solution method. Some benchmark problems were solved by using the present local level set method. Numerical results have shown that the proposed algorithm is accurate and efficient in terms of computational time

A local level set method based on a finite element method for unstructured meshes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ngo, Long Cu; Choi, Hyoung Gwon [School of Mechanical Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2016-12-15

A local level set method for unstructured meshes has been implemented by using a finite element method. A least-square weighted residual method was employed for implicit discretization to solve the level set advection equation. By contrast, a direct re-initialization method, which is directly applicable to the local level set method for unstructured meshes, was adopted to re-correct the level set function to become a signed distance function after advection. The proposed algorithm was constructed such that the advection and direct reinitialization steps were conducted only for nodes inside the narrow band around the interface. Therefore, in the advection step, the Gauss–Seidel method was used to update the level set function using a node-by-node solution method. Some benchmark problems were solved by using the present local level set method. Numerical results have shown that the proposed algorithm is accurate and efficient in terms of computational time.

Laparoscopic appendicectomy for suspected mesh-induced appendicitis after laparoscopic transabdominal preperitoneal polypropylene mesh inguinal herniorraphy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jennings Jason

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Laparoscopic inguinal herniorraphy via a transabdominal preperitoneal (TAPP approach using Polypropylene Mesh (Mesh and staples is an accepted technique. Mesh induces a localised inflammatory response that may extend to, and involve, adjacent abdominal and pelvic viscera such as the appendix. We present an interesting case of suspected Mesh-induced appendicitis treated successfully with laparoscopic appendicectomy, without Mesh removal, in an elderly gentleman who presented with symptoms and signs of acute appendicitis 18 months after laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair. Possible mechanisms for Mesh-induced appendicitis are briefly discussed.

Fracture and Fragmentation of Simplicial Finite Elements Meshes using Graphs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mota, A; Knap, J; Ortiz, M

2006-10-18

An approach for the topological representation of simplicial finite element meshes as graphs is presented. It is shown that by using a graph, the topological changes induced by fracture reduce to a few, local kernel operations. The performance of the graph representation is demonstrated and analyzed, using as reference the 3D fracture algorithm by Pandolfi and Ortiz [22]. It is shown that the graph representation initializes in O(N{sub E}{sup 1.1}) time and fractures in O(N{sub I}{sup 1.0}) time, while the reference implementation requires O(N{sub E}{sup 2.1}) time to initialize and O(N{sub I}{sup 1.9}) time to fracture, where NE is the number of elements in the mesh and N{sub I} is the number of interfaces to fracture.

Joint Channel Assignment and Routing in Multiradio Multichannel Wireless Mesh Networks: Design Considerations and Approaches

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Omar M. Zakaria

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Multiradio wireless mesh network is a promising architecture that improves the network capacity by exploiting multiple radio channels concurrently. Channel assignment and routing are underlying challenges in multiradio architectures since both determine the traffic distribution over links and channels. The interdependency between channel assignments and routing promotes toward the joint solutions for efficient configurations. This paper presents an in-depth review of the joint approaches of channel assignment and routing in multiradio wireless mesh networks. First, the key design issues, modeling, and approaches are identified and discussed. Second, existing algorithms for joint channel assignment and routing are presented and classified based on the channel assignment types. Furthermore, the set of reconfiguration algorithms to adapt the network traffic dynamics is also discussed. Finally, the paper presents some multiradio practical implementations and test-beds and points out the future research directions.

An algorithm and a Tool for Wavelength Allocation in OMS-SP Ring Architecture

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Riaz, Muhammad Tahir; Pedersen, Jens Myrup; Madsen, Ole Brun

2006-01-01

OMS-SP ring is one of the well known architectures in Wavelength Division Multiplexing based optical fiber networks. The architecture supports a restorable full mesh in an optical fiber ring using multiple light wavelengths. The paper presents an algorithm to allocate wavelengths in the OMS-SP ri...... architecture. A tool is also introduced which implements the algorithm and assigns wavelengths. The proposed algorithm uses fewer number of wavelengths than the classical allocation method. The algorithm is described and results are presented.......OMS-SP ring is one of the well known architectures in Wavelength Division Multiplexing based optical fiber networks. The architecture supports a restorable full mesh in an optical fiber ring using multiple light wavelengths. The paper presents an algorithm to allocate wavelengths in the OMS-SP ring...

Monte Carlo charged-particle tracking and energy deposition on a Lagrangian mesh.

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, J; Moses, G A; McKenty, P W

2005-10-01

A Monte Carlo algorithm for alpha particle tracking and energy deposition on a cylindrical computational mesh in a Lagrangian hydrodynamics code used for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) simulations is presented. The straight line approximation is used to follow propagation of "Monte Carlo particles" which represent collections of alpha particles generated from thermonuclear deuterium-tritium (DT) reactions. Energy deposition in the plasma is modeled by the continuous slowing down approximation. The scheme addresses various aspects arising in the coupling of Monte Carlo tracking with Lagrangian hydrodynamics; such as non-orthogonal severely distorted mesh cells, particle relocation on the moving mesh and particle relocation after rezoning. A comparison with the flux-limited multi-group diffusion transport method is presented for a polar direct drive target design for the National Ignition Facility. Simulations show the Monte Carlo transport method predicts about earlier ignition than predicted by the diffusion method, and generates higher hot spot temperature. Nearly linear speed-up is achieved for multi-processor parallel simulations.

Analysis of the discontinuous Petrov-Galerkin method with optimal test functions for the Reissner-Mindlin plate bending model

KAUST Repository

Calo, Victor M.

2014-01-01

We analyze the discontinuous Petrov-Galerkin (DPG) method with optimal test functions when applied to solve the Reissner-Mindlin model of plate bending. We prove that the hybrid variational formulation underlying the DPG method is well-posed (stable) with a thickness-dependent constant in a norm encompassing the L2-norms of the bending moment, the shear force, the transverse deflection and the rotation vector. We then construct a numerical solution scheme based on quadrilateral scalar and vector finite elements of degree p. We show that for affine meshes the discretization inherits the stability of the continuous formulation provided that the optimal test functions are approximated by polynomials of degree p+3. We prove a theoretical error estimate in terms of the mesh size h and polynomial degree p and demonstrate numerical convergence on affine as well as non-affine mesh sequences. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Texturing of continuous LOD meshes with the hierarchical texture atlas

Science.gov (United States)

Birkholz, Hermann

2006-02-01

For the rendering of detailed virtual environments, trade-offs have to be made between image quality and rendering time. An immersive experience of virtual reality always demands high frame-rates with the best reachable image qual-ity. Continuous Level of Detail (cLoD) triangle-meshes provide an continuous spectrum of detail for a triangle mesh that can be used to create view-dependent approximations of the environment in real-time. This enables the rendering with a constant number of triangles and thus with constant frame-rates. Normally the construction of such cLoD mesh representations leads to the loss of all texture information of the original mesh. To overcome this problem, a parameter domain can be created, in order to map the surface properties (colour, texture, normal) to it. This parameter domain can be used to map the surface properties back to arbitrary approximations of the original mesh. The parameter domain is often a simplified version of the mesh to be parameterised. This limits the reachable simplification to the domain mesh which has to map the surface of the original mesh with the least possible stretch. In this paper, a hierarchical domain mesh is presented, that scales between very coarse domain meshes and good property-mapping.

An Interference-Aware Admission Control Design for Wireless Mesh Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Manikantan Shila Devu

2010-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we present IAC, an interference aware admission control algorithm for use in wireless mesh networks. The core concept of IAC is to use a low overhead dual threshold based approach to share the bandwidth information with its neighbors in the interfering range. As a result, IAC guarantees that the shared wireless bandwidth is not overutilized and the quality of all existing flows are preserved. Moreover, IAC takes into account the intraflow interference effect to estimate the bandwidth consumption of the flow in a multihop path. We have further proposed two approaches of bandwidth allocation, FCFS and MCU, and demonstrated that proper tuning of thresholds can lead to high performance of both schemes. Simulation results illustrate that IAC effectively limits the overutilization of channel resources which in turn results in high throughput, low delay and low packet loss rate for all admitted flows.

Modification of the MORSE code for Monte Carlo eigenvalue problems by coarse-mesh rebalance acceleration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nishida, Takahiko; Horikami, Kunihiko; Suzuki, Tadakazu; Nakahara, Yasuaki; Taji, Yukichi

1975-09-01

The coarse-mesh rebalancing technique is introduced into the general-purpose neutron and gamma-ray Monte Carlo transport code MORSE, to accelerate the convergence rate of the iteration process for eigenvalue calculation in a nuclear reactor system. Two subroutines are thus attached to the code. One is bookkeeping routine 'COARSE' for obtaining the quantities related with the neutron balance in each coarse mesh cell, such as the number of neutrons absorbed in the cell, from random walks of neutrons in a batch. The other is rebalance factor calculation routine 'REBAL' for obtaining the scaling factor whereby the neutron flux in the cell is multiplied to attain the neutron balance. The two subroutines and algorithm of the coarse mesh rebalancing acceleration in a Monte Carlo game are described. (auth.)

Lagrangian fluid dynamics using the Voronoi-Delauanay mesh

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dukowicz, J.K.

1981-01-01

A Lagrangian technique for numerical fluid dynamics is described. This technique makes use of the Voronoi mesh to efficiently locate new neighbors, and it uses the dual (Delaunay) triangulation to define computational cells. This removes all topological restrictions and facilitates the solution of problems containing interfaces and multiple materials. To improve computational accuracy a mesh smoothing procedure is employed

Sequential bayes estimation algorithm with cubic splines on uniform meshes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hossfeld, F.; Mika, K.; Plesser-Walk, E.

1975-11-01

After outlining the principles of some recent developments in parameter estimation, a sequential numerical algorithm for generalized curve-fitting applications is presented combining results from statistical estimation concepts and spline analysis. Due to its recursive nature, the algorithm can be used most efficiently in online experimentation. Using computer-sumulated and experimental data, the efficiency and the flexibility of this sequential estimation procedure is extensively demonstrated. (orig.) [de

Implicit Geometry Meshing for the simulation of Rotary Friction Welding

Science.gov (United States)

Schmicker, D.; Persson, P.-O.; Strackeljan, J.

2014-08-01

The simulation of Rotary Friction Welding (RFW) is a challenging task, since it states a coupled problem of phenomena like large plastic deformations, heat flux, contact and friction. In particular the mesh generation and its restoration when using a Lagrangian description of motion is of significant severity. In this regard Implicit Geometry Meshing (IGM) algorithms are promising alternatives to the more conventional explicit methods. Because of the implicit description of the geometry during remeshing, the IGM procedure turns out to be highly robust and generates spatial discretizations of high quality regardless of the complexity of the flash shape and its inclusions. A model for efficient RFW simulation is presented, which is based on a Carreau fluid law, an Augmented Lagrange approach in mapping the incompressible deformations, a penalty contact approach, a fully regularized Coulomb-/fluid friction law and a hybrid time integration strategy. The implementation of the IGM algorithm using 6-node triangular finite elements is described in detail. The techniques are demonstrated on a fairly complex friction welding problem, demonstrating the performance and the potentials of the proposed method. The techniques are general and straight-forward to implement, and offer the potential of successful adoption to a wide range of other engineering problems.

Transvaginal mesh procedures for pelvic organ prolapse.

Science.gov (United States)

Walter, Jens-Erik

2011-02-01

To provide an update on transvaginal mesh procedures, newly available minimally invasive surgical techniques for pelvic floor repair. The discussion is limited to minimally invasive transvaginal mesh procedures. PubMed and Medline were searched for articles published in English, using the key words "pelvic organ prolapse," transvaginal mesh," and "minimally invasive surgery." Results were restricted to systematic reviews, randomized control trials/controlled clinical trials, and observational studies. Searches were updated on a regular basis, and articles were incorporated in the guideline to May 2010. Grey (unpublished) literature was identified through searching the websites of health technology assessment and health technology assessment-related agencies, clinical practice guideline collections, clinical trial registries, and national and international medical specialty societies. The quality of evidence was rated using the criteria described in the Report of the Canadian Task Force on the Preventive Health Care. Recommendations for practice were ranked according to the method described in that report (Table 1). Counselling for the surgical treatment of pelvic organ prolapse should consider all benefits, harms, and costs of the surgical procedure, with particular emphasis on the use of mesh. 1. Patients should be counselled that transvaginal mesh procedures are considered novel techniques for pelvic floor repair that demonstrate high rates of anatomical cure in uncontrolled short-term case series. (II-2B) 2. Patients should be informed of the range of success rates until stronger evidence of superiority is published. (II-2B) 3. Training specific to transvaginal mesh procedures should be undertaken before procedures are performed. (III-C) 4. Patients should undergo thorough preoperative counselling regarding (a) the potential serious adverse sequelae of transvaginal mesh repairs, including mesh exposure, pain, and dyspareunia; and (b) the limited data available

The efficacy of centralized flow rate control in 802.11-based wireless mesh networks

KAUST Repository

Jamshaid, K.

2013-06-13

Commodity WiFi-based wireless mesh networks (WMNs) can be used to provide last mile Internet access. These networks exhibit extreme unfairness with backlogged traffic sources. Current solutions propose distributed source-rate control algorithms requiring link-layer or transport-layer changes on all mesh nodes. This is often infeasible in large practical deployments. In wireline networks, router-assisted rate control techniques have been proposed for use alongside end-to-end mechanisms. We wish to evaluate the feasibility of establishing similar centralized control via gateways in WMNs. In this paper, we focus on the efficacy of this control rather than the specifics of the controller design mechanism. We answer the question: Given sources that react predictably to congestion notification, can we enforce a desired rate allocation through a single centralized controller? The answer is not obvious because flows experience varying contention levels, and transmissions are scheduled by a node using imperfect local knowledge. We find that common router-assisted flow control schemes used in wired networks fail in WMNs because they assume that (1) links are independent, and (2) router queue buildups are sufficient for detecting congestion. We show that non-work-conserving, rate-based centralized scheduling can effectively enforce rate allocation. It can achieve results comparable to source rate limiting, without requiring any modifications to mesh routers or client devices. 2013 Jamshaid et al.; licensee Springer.

An efficient Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) algorithm for the Discontinuous Galerkin method: Applications for the computation of compressible two-phase flows

Science.gov (United States)

Papoutsakis, Andreas; Sazhin, Sergei S.; Begg, Steven; Danaila, Ionut; Luddens, Francky

2018-06-01

We present an Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) method suitable for hybrid unstructured meshes that allows for local refinement and de-refinement of the computational grid during the evolution of the flow. The adaptive implementation of the Discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method introduced in this work (ForestDG) is based on a topological representation of the computational mesh by a hierarchical structure consisting of oct- quad- and binary trees. Adaptive mesh refinement (h-refinement) enables us to increase the spatial resolution of the computational mesh in the vicinity of the points of interest such as interfaces, geometrical features, or flow discontinuities. The local increase in the expansion order (p-refinement) at areas of high strain rates or vorticity magnitude results in an increase of the order of accuracy in the region of shear layers and vortices. A graph of unitarian-trees, representing hexahedral, prismatic and tetrahedral elements is used for the representation of the initial domain. The ancestral elements of the mesh can be split into self-similar elements allowing each tree to grow branches to an arbitrary level of refinement. The connectivity of the elements, their genealogy and their partitioning are described by linked lists of pointers. An explicit calculation of these relations, presented in this paper, facilitates the on-the-fly splitting, merging and repartitioning of the computational mesh by rearranging the links of each node of the tree with a minimal computational overhead. The modal basis used in the DG implementation facilitates the mapping of the fluxes across the non conformal faces. The AMR methodology is presented and assessed using a series of inviscid and viscous test cases. Also, the AMR methodology is used for the modelling of the interaction between droplets and the carrier phase in a two-phase flow. This approach is applied to the analysis of a spray injected into a chamber of quiescent air, using the Eulerian

Computational methods and modeling. 3. Adaptive Mesh Refinement for the Nodal Integral Method and Application to the Convection-Diffusion Equation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Torej, Allen J.; Rizwan-Uddin

2001-01-01

The nodal integral method (NIM) has been developed for several problems, including the Navier-Stokes equations, the convection-diffusion equation, and the multigroup neutron diffusion equations. The coarse-mesh efficiency of the NIM is not fully realized in problems characterized by a wide range of spatial scales. However, the combination of adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) capability with the NIM can recover the coarse mesh efficiency by allowing high degrees of resolution in specific localized areas where it is needed and by using a lower resolution everywhere else. Furthermore, certain features of the NIM can be fruitfully exploited in the application of the AMR process. In this paper, we outline a general approach to couple nodal schemes with AMR and then apply it to the convection-diffusion (energy) equation. The development of the NIM with AMR capability (NIMAMR) is based on the well-known Berger-Oliger method for structured AMR. In general, the main components of all AMR schemes are 1. the solver; 2. the level-grid hierarchy; 3. the selection algorithm; 4. the communication procedures; 5. the governing algorithm. The first component, the solver, consists of the numerical scheme for the governing partial differential equations and the algorithm used to solve the resulting system of discrete algebraic equations. In the case of the NIM-AMR, the solver is the iterative approach to the solution of the set of discrete equations obtained by applying the NIM. Furthermore, in the NIM-AMR, the level-grid hierarchy (the second component) is based on the Hierarchical Adaptive Mesh Refinement (HAMR) system,6 and hence, the details of the hierarchy are omitted here. In the selection algorithm, regions of the domain that require mesh refinement are identified. The criterion to select regions for mesh refinement can be based on the magnitude of the gradient or on the Richardson truncation error estimate. Although an excellent choice for the selection criterion, the Richardson

Stress distributions in finite element analysis of concrete gravity dam ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Gravity dams are solid structures built of mass concrete material; they maintain their stability against the design loads from the geometric shape, the mass, and the strength of the concrete. The model was meshed with an 8-node biquadratic plane strain quadrilateral (CPE8R) elements, using ABAQUS, a finite element ...

A fast algorithm for sparse matrix computations related to inversion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, S.; Wu, W.; Darve, E.

2013-01-01

We have developed a fast algorithm for computing certain entries of the inverse of a sparse matrix. Such computations are critical to many applications, such as the calculation of non-equilibrium Green’s functions G r and G for nano-devices. The FIND (Fast Inverse using Nested Dissection) algorithm is optimal in the big-O sense. However, in practice, FIND suffers from two problems due to the width-2 separators used by its partitioning scheme. One problem is the presence of a large constant factor in the computational cost of FIND. The other problem is that the partitioning scheme used by FIND is incompatible with most existing partitioning methods and libraries for nested dissection, which all use width-1 separators. Our new algorithm resolves these problems by thoroughly decomposing the computation process such that width-1 separators can be used, resulting in a significant speedup over FIND for realistic devices — up to twelve-fold in simulation. The new algorithm also has the added advantage that desired off-diagonal entries can be computed for free. Consequently, our algorithm is faster than the current state-of-the-art recursive methods for meshes of any size. Furthermore, the framework used in the analysis of our algorithm is the first attempt to explicitly apply the widely-used relationship between mesh nodes and matrix computations to the problem of multiple eliminations with reuse of intermediate results. This framework makes our algorithm easier to generalize, and also easier to compare against other methods related to elimination trees. Finally, our accuracy analysis shows that the algorithms that require back-substitution are subject to significant extra round-off errors, which become extremely large even for some well-conditioned matrices or matrices with only moderately large condition numbers. When compared to these back-substitution algorithms, our algorithm is generally a few orders of magnitude more accurate, and our produced round-off errors

A fast algorithm for sparse matrix computations related to inversion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, S., E-mail: lisong@stanford.edu [Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering, Stanford University, 496 Lomita Mall, Durand Building, Stanford, CA 94305 (United States); Wu, W. [Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, 350 Serra Mall, Packard Building, Room 268, Stanford, CA 94305 (United States); Darve, E. [Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering, Stanford University, 496 Lomita Mall, Durand Building, Stanford, CA 94305 (United States); Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, 496 Lomita Mall, Durand Building, Room 209, Stanford, CA 94305 (United States)

2013-06-01

We have developed a fast algorithm for computing certain entries of the inverse of a sparse matrix. Such computations are critical to many applications, such as the calculation of non-equilibrium Green’s functions G{sup r} and G{sup <} for nano-devices. The FIND (Fast Inverse using Nested Dissection) algorithm is optimal in the big-O sense. However, in practice, FIND suffers from two problems due to the width-2 separators used by its partitioning scheme. One problem is the presence of a large constant factor in the computational cost of FIND. The other problem is that the partitioning scheme used by FIND is incompatible with most existing partitioning methods and libraries for nested dissection, which all use width-1 separators. Our new algorithm resolves these problems by thoroughly decomposing the computation process such that width-1 separators can be used, resulting in a significant speedup over FIND for realistic devices — up to twelve-fold in simulation. The new algorithm also has the added advantage that desired off-diagonal entries can be computed for free. Consequently, our algorithm is faster than the current state-of-the-art recursive methods for meshes of any size. Furthermore, the framework used in the analysis of our algorithm is the first attempt to explicitly apply the widely-used relationship between mesh nodes and matrix computations to the problem of multiple eliminations with reuse of intermediate results. This framework makes our algorithm easier to generalize, and also easier to compare against other methods related to elimination trees. Finally, our accuracy analysis shows that the algorithms that require back-substitution are subject to significant extra round-off errors, which become extremely large even for some well-conditioned matrices or matrices with only moderately large condition numbers. When compared to these back-substitution algorithms, our algorithm is generally a few orders of magnitude more accurate, and our produced round

Split-Cell Exponential Characteristic Transport Method for Unstructured Tetrahedral Meshes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brennan, Charles R.; Miller, Rodney L.; Mathews, Kirk A.

2001-01-01

The nonlinear, exponential characteristic (EC) method is extended to unstructured meshes of tetrahedral cells in three-dimensional Cartesian coordinates. The split-cell approach developed for the linear characteristic (LC) method on such meshes is used. Exponential distributions of the source within a cell and of the inflow flux on upstream faces of the cell are assumed. The coefficients of these distributions are determined by nonlinear root solving so as to match the zeroth and first moments of the source or entering flux. Good conditioning is achieved by casting the formulas for the moments of the source, inflow flux, and solution flux as sums of positive functions and by using accurate and robust algorithms for evaluation of those functions. Various test problems are used to compare the performance of the EC and LC methods. The EC method is somewhat less accurate than the LC method in regions of net out leakage but is strictly positive and retains good accuracy with optically thick cells, as in shielding problems, unlike the LC method. The computational cost per cell is greater for the EC method, but the use of substantially coarser meshes can make the EC method less expensive in total cost. The EC method, unlike the LC method, may fail if negative cross sections or angular quadrature weights are used. It is concluded that the EC and LC methods should be practical, reliable, and complimentary schemes for these meshes

Voltammetry at micro-mesh electrodes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wadhawan Jay D.

2003-01-01

Full Text Available The voltammetry at three micro-mesh electrodes is explored. It is found that at sufficiently short experimental durations, the micro-mesh working electrode first behaves as an ensemble of microband electrodes, then follows the behaviour anticipated for an array of diffusion-independent micro-ring electrodes of the same perimeter as individual grid-squares within the mesh. During prolonged electrolysis, the micro-mesh electrode follows that behaviour anticipated theoretically for a cubically-packed partially-blocked electrode. Application of the micro-mesh electrode for the electrochemical determination of carbon dioxide in DMSO electrolyte solutions is further illustrated.

MeshVoro: A Three-Dimensional Voronoi Mesh Building Tool for the TOUGH Family of Codes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Freeman, C. M.; Boyle, K. L.; Reagan, M.; Johnson, J.; Rycroft, C.; Moridis, G. J.

2013-09-30

Few tools exist for creating and visualizing complex three-dimensional simulation meshes, and these have limitations that restrict their application to particular geometries and circumstances. Mesh generation needs to trend toward ever more general applications. To that end, we have developed MeshVoro, a tool that is based on the Voro (Rycroft 2009) library and is capable of generating complex threedimensional Voronoi tessellation-based (unstructured) meshes for the solution of problems of flow and transport in subsurface geologic media that are addressed by the TOUGH (Pruess et al. 1999) family of codes. MeshVoro, which includes built-in data visualization routines, is a particularly useful tool because it extends the applicability of the TOUGH family of codes by enabling the scientifically robust and relatively easy discretization of systems with challenging 3D geometries. We describe several applications of MeshVoro. We illustrate the ability of the tool to straightforwardly transform a complex geological grid into a simulation mesh that conforms to the specifications of the TOUGH family of codes. We demonstrate how MeshVoro can describe complex system geometries with a relatively small number of grid blocks, and we construct meshes for geometries that would have been practically intractable with a standard Cartesian grid approach. We also discuss the limitations and appropriate applications of this new technology.

Small World Properties Generated by a New Algorithm Under Same Degree of All Nodes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Yong; Fang Jinqing; Liu Qiang; Liang Yong

2006-01-01

Based on the model of the same degree of all nodes we proposed before, a new algorithm, the so-called 'spread all over vertices' (SAV) algorithm, is proposed for generating small-world properties from a regular ring lattices. During randomly rewiring connections the SAV is used to keep the unchanged number of links. Comparing the SAV algorithm with the Watts-Strogatz model and the 'spread all over boundaries' algorithm, three methods can have the same topological properties of the small world networks. These results offer diverse formation of small world networks. It is helpful to the research of some applications for dynamics of mutual oscillator inside nodes and interacting automata associated with networks.

Mesh-free Hamiltonian implementation of two dimensional Darwin model

Science.gov (United States)

Siddi, Lorenzo; Lapenta, Giovanni; Gibbon, Paul

2017-08-01

A new approach to Darwin or magnetoinductive plasma simulation is presented, which combines a mesh-free field solver with a robust time-integration scheme avoiding numerical divergence errors in the solenoidal field components. The mesh-free formulation employs an efficient parallel Barnes-Hut tree algorithm to speed up the computation of fields summed directly from the particles, avoiding the necessity of divergence cleaning procedures typically required by particle-in-cell methods. The time-integration scheme employs a Hamiltonian formulation of the Lorentz force, circumventing the development of violent numerical instabilities associated with time differentiation of the vector potential. It is shown that a semi-implicit scheme converges rapidly and is robust to further numerical instabilities which can develop from a dominant contribution of the vector potential to the canonical momenta. The model is validated by various static and dynamic benchmark tests, including a simulation of the Weibel-like filamentation instability in beam-plasma interactions.

Laparoscopic mesh explantation and drainage of sacral abscess remote from transvaginal excision of exposed sacral colpopexy mesh.

Science.gov (United States)

Roth, Ted M; Reight, Ian

2012-07-01

Sacral colpopexy may be complicated by mesh exposure, and the surgical treatment of mesh exposure typically results in minor postoperative morbidity and few delayed complications. A 75-year-old woman presented 7 years after a laparoscopic sacral colpopexy, with Mersilene mesh, with an apical mesh exposure. She underwent an uncomplicated transvaginal excision and was asymptomatic until 8 months later when she presented with vaginal drainage and a sacral abscess. This was successfully treated with laparoscopic enterolysis, drainage of the abscess, and explantation of the remaining mesh. Incomplete excision of exposed colpopexy mesh can lead to ascending infection and sacral abscess. Laparoscopic drainage and mesh removal may be considered in these patients.

The strategy of alternate direction adapted to a coarse mesh method for the solution of neutron diffusion problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Watson, F.V.

1982-01-01

An adaptation of the alternate direction method for coarse mesh calculation, is presented. The algorithm is applicable to two-and three dimensional problems, the last being the more interesting one. (E.G.) [pt

The long-term behavior of lightweight and heavyweight meshes used to repair abdominal wall defects is determined by the host tissue repair process provoked by the mesh.

Science.gov (United States)

Pascual, Gemma; Hernández-Gascón, Belén; Rodríguez, Marta; Sotomayor, Sandra; Peña, Estefania; Calvo, Begoña; Bellón, Juan M

2012-11-01

Although heavyweight (HW) or lightweight (LW) polypropylene (PP) meshes are widely used for hernia repair, other alternatives have recently appeared. They have the same large-pore structure yet are composed of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). This study compares the long-term (3 and 6 months) behavior of meshes of different pore size (HW compared with LW) and composition (PP compared with PTFE). Partial defects were created in the lateral wall of the abdomen in New Zealand White rabbits and then repaired by the use of a HW or LW PP mesh or a new monofilament, large-pore PTFE mesh (Infinit). At 90 and 180 days after implantation, tissue incorporation, gene and protein expression of neocollagens (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction/immunofluorescence), macrophage response (immunohistochemistry), and biomechanical strength were determined. Shrinkage was measured at 90 days. All three meshes induced good host tissue ingrowth, yet the macrophage response was significantly greater in the PTFE implants (P .05). Host collagen deposition is mesh pore size dependent whereas the macrophage response induced is composition dependent with a greater response shown by PTFE. In the long term, macroporous meshes show comparable biomechanical behavior regardless of their pore size or composition. Copyright © 2012 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Mesh optimization for microbial fuel cell cathodes constructed around stainless steel mesh current collectors

KAUST Repository

Zhang, Fang; Merrill, Matthew D.; Tokash, Justin C.; Saito, Tomonori; Cheng, Shaoan; Hickner, Michael A.; Logan, Bruce E.

2011-01-01

that the mesh properties of these cathodes can significantly affect performance. Cathodes made from the coarsest mesh (30-mesh) achieved the highest maximum power of 1616 ± 25 mW m-2 (normalized to cathode projected surface area; 47.1 ± 0.7 W m-3 based on liquid

A short note on the use of the red-black tree in Cartesian adaptive mesh refinement algorithms

Science.gov (United States)

Hasbestan, Jaber J.; Senocak, Inanc

2017-12-01

Mesh adaptivity is an indispensable capability to tackle multiphysics problems with large disparity in time and length scales. With the availability of powerful supercomputers, there is a pressing need to extend time-proven computational techniques to extreme-scale problems. Cartesian adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) is one such method that enables simulation of multiscale, multiphysics problems. AMR is based on construction of octrees. Originally, an explicit tree data structure was used to generate and manipulate an adaptive Cartesian mesh. At least eight pointers are required in an explicit approach to construct an octree. Parent-child relationships are then used to traverse the tree. An explicit octree, however, is expensive in terms of memory usage and the time it takes to traverse the tree to access a specific node. For these reasons, implicit pointerless methods have been pioneered within the computer graphics community, motivated by applications requiring interactivity and realistic three dimensional visualization. Lewiner et al. [1] provides a concise review of pointerless approaches to generate an octree. Use of a hash table and Z-order curve are two key concepts in pointerless methods that we briefly discuss next.

SUPERIMPOSED MESH PLOTTING IN MCNP

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

J. HENDRICKS

2001-02-01

The capability to plot superimposed meshes has been added to MCNP{trademark}. MCNP4C featured a superimposed mesh weight window generator which enabled users to set up geometries without having to subdivide geometric cells for variance reduction. The variance reduction was performed with weight windows on a rectangular or cylindrical mesh superimposed over the physical geometry. Experience with the new capability was favorable but also indicated that a number of enhancements would be very beneficial, particularly a means of visualizing the mesh and its values. The mathematics for plotting the mesh and its values is described here along with a description of other upgrades.

Expeditious 3D poisson vlasov algorithm applied to ion extraction from a plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Whealton, J.H.; McGaffey, R.W.; Meszaros, P.S.

1983-01-01

A new 3D Poisson Vlasov algorithm is under development which differs from a previous algorithm, referenced in this paper, in two respects: the mesh lines are cartesian, and the Poisson equation is solved iteratively. The resulting algorithm has been used to examine the same boundary value problem as considered in the earlier algorithm except that the number of nodes is 2 times greater. The same physical results were obtained except the computational time was reduced by a factor of 60 and the memory requirement was reduced by a factor of 10. This algorithm at present restricts Neumann boundary conditions to orthogonal planes lying along mesh lines. No such restriction applies to Dirichlet boundaries. An emittance diagram is shown below where those points lying on the y = 0 line start on the axis of symmetry and those near the y = 1 line start near the slot end

Does Attorney Advertising Influence Patient Perceptions of Pelvic Mesh?

Science.gov (United States)

Tippett, Elizabeth; King, Jesse; Lucent, Vincent; Ephraim, Sonya; Murphy, Miles; Taff, Eileen

2018-01-01

To measure the relative influence of attorney advertising on patient perceptions of pelvic mesh compared with a history of surgery and a first urology visit. A 52-item survey was administered to 170 female patients in 2 urology offices between 2014 and 2016. Multiple survey items were combined to form scales for benefit and risk perceptions of pelvic mesh, perceptions of the advertising, attitudes toward pelvic mesh, and knowledge of pelvic mesh and underlying medical conditions. Data were analyzed using hierarchical linear regression models. Exposure to attorney advertising was quite high; 88% reported seeing a mesh-related attorney advertisement in the last 6 months. Over half of patients reported seeing attorney advertisements more than once per week. A history of prior mesh implant surgery was the strongest predictor of benefit and risk perceptions of pelvic mesh. Exposure to attorney advertising was associated with higher risk perceptions but did not significantly affect perceptions of benefits. Past urologist visits increased perceptions of benefits but had no effect on risk perceptions. Attorney advertising appears to have some influence on risk perceptions, but personal experience and discussions with a urogynecologist or urologist also influence patient perceptions. Implications, limitations, and future research are discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Algorithms and data structures for massively parallel generic adaptive finite element codes

KAUST Repository

Bangerth, Wolfgang

2011-12-01

Today\\'s largest supercomputers have 100,000s of processor cores and offer the potential to solve partial differential equations discretized by billions of unknowns. However, the complexity of scaling to such large machines and problem sizes has so far prevented the emergence of generic software libraries that support such computations, although these would lower the threshold of entry and enable many more applications to benefit from large-scale computing. We are concerned with providing this functionality for mesh-adaptive finite element computations. We assume the existence of an "oracle" that implements the generation and modification of an adaptive mesh distributed across many processors, and that responds to queries about its structure. Based on querying the oracle, we develop scalable algorithms and data structures for generic finite element methods. Specifically, we consider the parallel distribution of mesh data, global enumeration of degrees of freedom, constraints, and postprocessing. Our algorithms remove the bottlenecks that typically limit large-scale adaptive finite element analyses. We demonstrate scalability of complete finite element workflows on up to 16,384 processors. An implementation of the proposed algorithms, based on the open source software p4est as mesh oracle, is provided under an open source license through the widely used deal.II finite element software library. © 2011 ACM 0098-3500/2011/12-ART10 $10.00.

DNA rendering of polyhedral meshes at the nanoscale

Science.gov (United States)

Benson, Erik; Mohammed, Abdulmelik; Gardell, Johan; Masich, Sergej; Czeizler, Eugen; Orponen, Pekka; Högberg, Björn

2015-07-01

It was suggested more than thirty years ago that Watson-Crick base pairing might be used for the rational design of nanometre-scale structures from nucleic acids. Since then, and especially since the introduction of the origami technique, DNA nanotechnology has enabled increasingly more complex structures. But although general approaches for creating DNA origami polygonal meshes and design software are available, there are still important constraints arising from DNA geometry and sense/antisense pairing, necessitating some manual adjustment during the design process. Here we present a general method of folding arbitrary polygonal digital meshes in DNA that readily produces structures that would be very difficult to realize using previous approaches. The design process is highly automated, using a routeing algorithm based on graph theory and a relaxation simulation that traces scaffold strands through the target structures. Moreover, unlike conventional origami designs built from close-packed helices, our structures have a more open conformation with one helix per edge and are therefore stable under the ionic conditions usually used in biological assays.

Patched based methods for adaptive mesh refinement solutions of partial differential equations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Saltzman, J.

1997-09-02

This manuscript contains the lecture notes for a course taught from July 7th through July 11th at the 1997 Numerical Analysis Summer School sponsored by C.E.A., I.N.R.I.A., and E.D.F. The subject area was chosen to support the general theme of that year`s school which is ``Multiscale Methods and Wavelets in Numerical Simulation.`` The first topic covered in these notes is a description of the problem domain. This coverage is limited to classical PDEs with a heavier emphasis on hyperbolic systems and constrained hyperbolic systems. The next topic is difference schemes. These schemes are the foundation for the adaptive methods. After the background material is covered, attention is focused on a simple patched based adaptive algorithm and its associated data structures for square grids and hyperbolic conservation laws. Embellishments include curvilinear meshes, embedded boundary and overset meshes. Next, several strategies for parallel implementations are examined. The remainder of the notes contains descriptions of elliptic solutions on the mesh hierarchy, elliptically constrained flow solution methods and elliptically constrained flow solution methods with diffusion.

External Memory Algorithms for Diameter and All-Pair Shortest-Paths on Sparse Graphs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Arge, Lars; Meyer, Ulrich; Toma, Laura

2004-01-01

We present several new external-memory algorithms for finding all-pairs shortest paths in a V -node, Eedge undirected graph. For all-pairs shortest paths and diameter in unweighted undirected graphs we present cache-oblivious algorithms with O(V · E B logM B E B) I/Os, where B is the block-size a...

User Manual for the PROTEUS Mesh Tools

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Smith, Micheal A. [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Shemon, Emily R. [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

2015-06-01

This report describes the various mesh tools that are provided with the PROTEUS code giving both descriptions of the input and output. In many cases the examples are provided with a regression test of the mesh tools. The most important mesh tools for any user to consider using are the MT_MeshToMesh.x and the MT_RadialLattice.x codes. The former allows the conversion between most mesh types handled by PROTEUS while the second allows the merging of multiple (assembly) meshes into a radial structured grid. Note that the mesh generation process is recursive in nature and that each input specific for a given mesh tool (such as .axial or .merge) can be used as “mesh” input for any of the mesh tools discussed in this manual.

Mathematics and computational methods development in U.S. department of energy-sponsored research (nuclear energy research initiative and nuclear engineering education research). 4. Development of an Expert System for Generation of an Effective Mesh Distribution for the SN Method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Patchimpattapong, Apisit; Haghighat, Alireza

2001-01-01

The discrete ordinates (S N ) method is widely used to obtain numerical solutions of the transport equation. The method calls for discretization of spatial, energy, and angular variables. To generate an 'effective' spatial mesh distribution, one has to consider various factors including particle mean free path (mfp), material and source discontinuities, and problem objectives. This becomes more complicated if we consider the effect of numerics such as differencing schemes, parallel processing strategies, and computation resources. As a result, one may often over/under-mesh depending upon limitations on accuracy, computing resources, and time allotted. To overcome the foregoing issues, we are developing an expert system for input preparation of the discrete ordinates (S N ) method. This project is a part of an ongoing project sponsored by Nuclear Engineering Education Research. Our expert system consists of two parts: (a) an algorithm for generation of a mesh distribution for a serial calculation and (b) an algorithm for extension to parallel computing, which accounts for parallelization parameters including granularity, load balancing, parallel algorithms, and possible architectural issues. Thus far, we have developed a stand-alone algorithm for generation of an 'effective' mesh distribution for a serial calculation. The algorithm has been successfully tested with the Parallel Environment Neutral-Particle Transport (PENTRAN) code system. In this paper, we discuss the structure of our algorithm and present its use for simulating the VENUS-3 experimental facility. To date, we have developed and tested part 1 of this system. This part comprises of four steps: creation of a geometric model and coarse meshes, calculation of un-collided flux, selection of differencing schemes, and generation of fine-mesh distribution. For the un-collided flux calculation, we have developed a parallel code called PENFC. It is capable of calculating un-collided and first-collision fluxes

To mesh or not to mesh: a review of pelvic organ reconstructive surgery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dällenbach P

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Patrick Dällenbach Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Division of Gynecology, Urogynecology Unit, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland Abstract: Pelvic organ prolapse (POP is a major health issue with a lifetime risk of undergoing at least one surgical intervention estimated at close to 10%. In the 1990s, the risk of reoperation after primary standard vaginal procedure was estimated to be as high as 30% to 50%. In order to reduce the risk of relapse, gynecological surgeons started to use mesh implants in pelvic organ reconstructive surgery with the emergence of new complications. Recent studies have nevertheless shown that the risk of POP recurrence requiring reoperation is lower than previously estimated, being closer to 10% rather than 30%. The development of mesh surgery – actively promoted by the marketing industry – was tremendous during the past decade, and preceded any studies supporting its benefit for our patients. Randomized trials comparing the use of mesh to native tissue repair in POP surgery have now shown better anatomical but similar functional outcomes, and meshes are associated with more complications, in particular for transvaginal mesh implants. POP is not a life-threatening condition, but a functional problem that impairs quality of life for women. The old adage “primum non nocere” is particularly appropriate when dealing with this condition which requires no treatment when asymptomatic. It is currently admitted that a certain degree of POP is physiological with aging when situated above the landmark of the hymen. Treatment should be individualized and the use of mesh needs to be selective and appropriate. Mesh implants are probably an important tool in pelvic reconstructive surgery, but the ideal implant has yet to be found. The indications for its use still require caution and discernment. This review explores the reasons behind the introduction of mesh augmentation in POP surgery, and aims to

User Manual for the PROTEUS Mesh Tools

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Smith, Micheal A. [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Shemon, Emily R [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

2016-09-19

PROTEUS is built around a finite element representation of the geometry for visualization. In addition, the PROTEUS-SN solver was built to solve the even-parity transport equation on a finite element mesh provided as input. Similarly, PROTEUS-MOC and PROTEUS-NEMO were built to apply the method of characteristics on unstructured finite element meshes. Given the complexity of real world problems, experience has shown that using commercial mesh generator to create rather simple input geometries is overly complex and slow. As a consequence, significant effort has been put into place to create multiple codes that help assist in the mesh generation and manipulation. There are three input means to create a mesh in PROTEUS: UFMESH, GRID, and NEMESH. At present, the UFMESH is a simple way to generate two-dimensional Cartesian and hexagonal fuel assembly geometries. The UFmesh input allows for simple assembly mesh generation while the GRID input allows the generation of Cartesian, hexagonal, and regular triangular structured grid geometry options. The NEMESH is a way for the user to create their own mesh or convert another mesh file format into a PROTEUS input format. Given that one has an input mesh format acceptable for PROTEUS, we have constructed several tools which allow further mesh and geometry construction (i.e. mesh extrusion and merging). This report describes the various mesh tools that are provided with the PROTEUS code giving both descriptions of the input and output. In many cases the examples are provided with a regression test of the mesh tools. The most important mesh tools for any user to consider using are the MT_MeshToMesh.x and the MT_RadialLattice.x codes. The former allows the conversion between most mesh types handled by PROTEUS while the second allows the merging of multiple (assembly) meshes into a radial structured grid. Note that the mesh generation process is recursive in nature and that each input specific for a given mesh tool (such as .axial

Introducing a distributed unstructured mesh into gyrokinetic particle-in-cell code, XGC

Science.gov (United States)

Yoon, Eisung; Shephard, Mark; Seol, E. Seegyoung; Kalyanaraman, Kaushik

2017-10-01

XGC has shown good scalability for large leadership supercomputers. The current production version uses a copy of the entire unstructured finite element mesh on every MPI rank. Although an obvious scalability issue if the mesh sizes are to be dramatically increased, the current approach is also not optimal with respect to data locality of particles and mesh information. To address these issues we have initiated the development of a distributed mesh PIC method. This approach directly addresses the base scalability issue with respect to mesh size and, through the use of a mesh entity centric view of the particle mesh relationship, provides opportunities to address data locality needs of many core and GPU supported heterogeneous systems. The parallel mesh PIC capabilities are being built on the Parallel Unstructured Mesh Infrastructure (PUMI). The presentation will first overview the form of mesh distribution used and indicate the structures and functions used to support the mesh, the particles and their interaction. Attention will then focus on the node-level optimizations being carried out to ensure performant operation of all PIC operations on the distributed mesh. Partnership for Edge Physics Simulation (EPSI) Grant No. DE-SC0008449 and Center for Extended Magnetohydrodynamic Modeling (CEMM) Grant No. DE-SC0006618.

Numerical homogenization of concrete microstructures without explicit meshes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sanahuja, Julien; Toulemonde, Charles

2011-01-01

Life management of electric hydro or nuclear power plants requires to estimate long-term concrete properties on facilities, for obvious safety and serviceability reasons. Decades-old structures are foreseen to be operational for several more decades. As a large number of different concrete formulations are found in EDF facilities, empirical models based on many experiments cannot be an option for a large fleet of power plant buildings. To build predictive models, homogenization techniques offer an appealing alternative. To properly upscale creep, especially at long term, a rather precise description of the microstructure is required. However, the complexity of the morphology of concrete poses several challenges. In particular, concrete is formulated to maximize the packing density of the granular skeleton, leading to aggregates spanning several length scales with small inter particle spacings. Thus, explicit meshing of realistic concrete microstructures is either out of reach of current meshing algorithms or would produce a number of degrees of freedom far higher than the current generic FEM codes capabilities. This paper proposes a method to deal with complex matrix-inclusions microstructures such as the ones encountered at the mortar or concrete scales, without explicitly meshing them. The microstructure is superimposed to an independent mesh, which is a regular Cartesian grid. This inevitably yields so called 'gray elements', spanning across multiple phases. As the reliability of the estimate of the effective properties highly depends on the behavior affected to these gray elements, special attention is paid to them. As far as the question of the solvers is concerned, generic FEM codes are found to lack efficiency: they cannot reach high enough levels of discretization with classical free meshes, and they do not take advantage of the regular structure of the mesh. Thus, a specific finite differences/finite volumes solver has been developed. At first, generic off

Flow Oriented Channel Assignment for Multi-radio Wireless Mesh Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Niu Zhisheng

2010-01-01

Full Text Available We investigate channel assignment for a multichannel wireless mesh network backbone, where each router is equipped with multiple interfaces. Of particular interest is the development of channel assignment heuristics for multiple flows. We present an optimization formulation and then propose two iterative flow oriented heuristics for the conflict-free and interference-aware cases, respectively. To maximize the aggregate useful end-to-end flow rates, both algorithms identify and resolve congestion at instantaneous bottleneck link in each iteration. Then the link rate is optimally allocated among contending flows that share this link by solving a linear programming (LP problem. A thorough performance evaluation is undertaken as a function of the number of channels and interfaces/node and the number of contending flows. The performance of our algorithm is shown to be significantly superior to best known algorithm in its class in multichannel limited radio scenarios.

User Manual for the PROTEUS Mesh Tools

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, Micheal A.; Shemon, Emily R.

2015-01-01

This report describes the various mesh tools that are provided with the PROTEUS code giving both descriptions of the input and output. In many cases the examples are provided with a regression test of the mesh tools. The most important mesh tools for any user to consider using are the MT M eshToMesh.x and the MT R adialLattice.x codes. The former allows the conversion between most mesh types handled by PROTEUS while the second allows the merging of multiple (assembly) meshes into a radial structured grid. Note that the mesh generation process is recursive in nature and that each input specific for a given mesh tool (such as .axial or .merge) can be used as ''mesh'' input for any of the mesh tools discussed in this manual.

To mesh or not to mesh: a review of pelvic organ reconstructive surgery

Science.gov (United States)

Dällenbach, Patrick

2015-01-01

Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is a major health issue with a lifetime risk of undergoing at least one surgical intervention estimated at close to 10%. In the 1990s, the risk of reoperation after primary standard vaginal procedure was estimated to be as high as 30% to 50%. In order to reduce the risk of relapse, gynecological surgeons started to use mesh implants in pelvic organ reconstructive surgery with the emergence of new complications. Recent studies have nevertheless shown that the risk of POP recurrence requiring reoperation is lower than previously estimated, being closer to 10% rather than 30%. The development of mesh surgery – actively promoted by the marketing industry – was tremendous during the past decade, and preceded any studies supporting its benefit for our patients. Randomized trials comparing the use of mesh to native tissue repair in POP surgery have now shown better anatomical but similar functional outcomes, and meshes are associated with more complications, in particular for transvaginal mesh implants. POP is not a life-threatening condition, but a functional problem that impairs quality of life for women. The old adage “primum non nocere” is particularly appropriate when dealing with this condition which requires no treatment when asymptomatic. It is currently admitted that a certain degree of POP is physiological with aging when situated above the landmark of the hymen. Treatment should be individualized and the use of mesh needs to be selective and appropriate. Mesh implants are probably an important tool in pelvic reconstructive surgery, but the ideal implant has yet to be found. The indications for its use still require caution and discernment. This review explores the reasons behind the introduction of mesh augmentation in POP surgery, and aims to clarify the risks, benefits, and the recognized indications for its use. PMID:25848324

Laparoscopic sacrocolpopexy versus transvaginal mesh for recurrent pelvic organ prolapse.

Science.gov (United States)

Iglesia, Cheryl B; Hale, Douglass S; Lucente, Vincent R

2013-03-01

Both expert surgeons agree with the following: (1) Surgical mesh, whether placed laparoscopically or transvaginally, is indicated for pelvic floor reconstruction in cases involving recurrent advanced pelvic organ prolapse. (2) Procedural expertise and experience gained from performing a high volume of cases is fundamentally necessary. Knowledge of outcomes and complications from an individual surgeon's audit of cases is also needed when discussing the risks and benefits of procedures and alternatives. Yet controversy still exists on how best to teach new surgical techniques and optimal ways to efficiently track outcomes, including subjective and objective cure of prolapse as well as perioperative complications. A mesh registry will be useful in providing data needed for surgeons. Cost factors are also a consideration since laparoscopic and especially robotic surgical mesh procedures are generally more costly than transvaginal mesh kits when operative time, extra instrumentation and length of stay are included. Long-term outcomes, particularly for transvaginal mesh procedures, are lacking. In conclusion, all surgery poses risks; however, patients should be made aware of the pros and cons of various routes of surgery as well as the potential risks and benefits of using mesh. Surgeons should provide patients with honest information about their own experience implanting mesh and also their experience dealing with mesh-related complications.

Efficient computation of clipped Voronoi diagram for mesh generation

KAUST Repository

Yan, Dongming

2013-04-01

The Voronoi diagram is a fundamental geometric structure widely used in various fields, especially in computer graphics and geometry computing. For a set of points in a compact domain (i.e. a bounded and closed 2D region or a 3D volume), some Voronoi cells of their Voronoi diagram are infinite or partially outside of the domain, but in practice only the parts of the cells inside the domain are needed, as when computing the centroidal Voronoi tessellation. Such a Voronoi diagram confined to a compact domain is called a clipped Voronoi diagram. We present an efficient algorithm to compute the clipped Voronoi diagram for a set of sites with respect to a compact 2D region or a 3D volume. We also apply the proposed method to optimal mesh generation based on the centroidal Voronoi tessellation. Crown Copyright © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Efficient computation of clipped Voronoi diagram for mesh generation

KAUST Repository

Yan, Dongming; Wang, Wen Ping; Lé vy, Bruno L.; Liu, Yang

2013-01-01

The Voronoi diagram is a fundamental geometric structure widely used in various fields, especially in computer graphics and geometry computing. For a set of points in a compact domain (i.e. a bounded and closed 2D region or a 3D volume), some Voronoi cells of their Voronoi diagram are infinite or partially outside of the domain, but in practice only the parts of the cells inside the domain are needed, as when computing the centroidal Voronoi tessellation. Such a Voronoi diagram confined to a compact domain is called a clipped Voronoi diagram. We present an efficient algorithm to compute the clipped Voronoi diagram for a set of sites with respect to a compact 2D region or a 3D volume. We also apply the proposed method to optimal mesh generation based on the centroidal Voronoi tessellation. Crown Copyright © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

RGG: Reactor geometry (and mesh) generator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jain, R.; Tautges, T.

2012-01-01

The reactor geometry (and mesh) generator RGG takes advantage of information about repeated structures in both assembly and core lattices to simplify the creation of geometry and mesh. It is released as open source software as a part of the MeshKit mesh generation library. The methodology operates in three stages. First, assembly geometry models of various types are generated by a tool called AssyGen. Next, the assembly model or models are meshed by using MeshKit tools or the CUBIT mesh generation tool-kit, optionally based on a journal file output by AssyGen. After one or more assembly model meshes have been constructed, a tool called CoreGen uses a copy/move/merge process to arrange the model meshes into a core model. In this paper, we present the current state of tools and new features in RGG. We also discuss the parallel-enabled CoreGen, which in several cases achieves super-linear speedups since the problems fit in available RAM at higher processor counts. Several RGG applications - 1/6 VHTR model, 1/4 PWR reactor core, and a full-core model for Monju - are reported. (authors)

Protection from radiation enteritis by an absorbable polyglycolic acid mesh sling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Devereux, D.F.; Thompson, D.; Sandhaus, L.; Sweeney, W.; Haas, A.

1987-01-01

Patients with malignant tumors of the pelvis who cannot be cured surgically often are treated with radiation after surgery. A devastating side effect of this treatment is radiation-associated small bowel injury (RASBI). The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that removal of the small bowel from the radiation field would protect it against RASBI. Twenty cebus monkeys underwent low anterior resection. In 10 animals an absorbable polyglycolic acid (PGA) mesh was sewn circumferentially around the interior of the abdominal cavity as a supporting apron, which prevented the small bowel's descent into the pelvis. The other 10 monkeys did not receive the mesh. All animals received 2000 rads by linear acceleration in a single dose. Twenty-four-hour stool fat, serum vitamin B12, and other serum values were obtained during the study. Animals were sacrificed after 1, 2, 3, 6, and 12 months, and the small bowel and rectum were examined histologically in a blind manner. Two monkeys who did not undergo surgery, or exposure to radiation served as controls. At all sacrifice periods, the animals with PGA mesh slings demonstrated normal small bowel function and histologic structure. Animals without mesh slings had abnormal stool and blood values at 1 month, and by 2 months all had died of small bowel necrosis. The animals that received the slings had no evidence of infection or obstruction, and by 6 months all evidence of the mesh was gone. Support of the small bowel out of the pelvis by an absorbable PGA mesh sling protects against RASBI and is without apparent complications

NeuroTessMesh: A Tool for the Generation and Visualization of Neuron Meshes and Adaptive On-the-Fly Refinement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juan J. Garcia-Cantero

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Gaining a better understanding of the human brain continues to be one of the greatest challenges for science, largely because of the overwhelming complexity of the brain and the difficulty of analyzing the features and behavior of dense neural networks. Regarding analysis, 3D visualization has proven to be a useful tool for the evaluation of complex systems. However, the large number of neurons in non-trivial circuits, together with their intricate geometry, makes the visualization of a neuronal scenario an extremely challenging computational problem. Previous work in this area dealt with the generation of 3D polygonal meshes that approximated the cells’ overall anatomy but did not attempt to deal with the extremely high storage and computational cost required to manage a complex scene. This paper presents NeuroTessMesh, a tool specifically designed to cope with many of the problems associated with the visualization of neural circuits that are comprised of large numbers of cells. In addition, this method facilitates the recovery and visualization of the 3D geometry of cells included in databases, such as NeuroMorpho, and provides the tools needed to approximate missing information such as the soma’s morphology. This method takes as its only input the available compact, yet incomplete, morphological tracings of the cells as acquired by neuroscientists. It uses a multiresolution approach that combines an initial, coarse mesh generation with subsequent on-the-fly adaptive mesh refinement stages using tessellation shaders. For the coarse mesh generation, a novel approach, based on the Finite Element Method, allows approximation of the 3D shape of the soma from its incomplete description. Subsequently, the adaptive refinement process performed in the graphic card generates meshes that provide good visual quality geometries at a reasonable computational cost, both in terms of memory and rendering time. All the described techniques have been

Sierra toolkit computational mesh conceptual model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baur, David G.; Edwards, Harold Carter; Cochran, William K.; Williams, Alan B.; Sjaardema, Gregory D.

2010-01-01

The Sierra Toolkit computational mesh is a software library intended to support massively parallel multi-physics computations on dynamically changing unstructured meshes. This domain of intended use is inherently complex due to distributed memory parallelism, parallel scalability, heterogeneity of physics, heterogeneous discretization of an unstructured mesh, and runtime adaptation of the mesh. Management of this inherent complexity begins with a conceptual analysis and modeling of this domain of intended use; i.e., development of a domain model. The Sierra Toolkit computational mesh software library is designed and implemented based upon this domain model. Software developers using, maintaining, or extending the Sierra Toolkit computational mesh library must be familiar with the concepts/domain model presented in this report.

Mesh adaptation technique for Fourier-domain fluorescence lifetime imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soloviev, Vadim Y.

2006-01-01

A novel adaptive mesh technique in the Fourier domain is introduced for problems in fluorescence lifetime imaging. A dynamical adaptation of the three-dimensional scheme based on the finite volume formulation reduces computational time and balances the ill-posed nature of the inverse problem. Light propagation in the medium is modeled by the telegraph equation, while the lifetime reconstruction algorithm is derived from the Fredholm integral equation of the first kind. Stability and computational efficiency of the method are demonstrated by image reconstruction of two spherical fluorescent objects embedded in a tissue phantom

Transvaginal mesh kits--how "serious" are the complications and are they reversible?

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Dominic; Dillon, Benjamin; Lemack, Gary; Gomelsky, Alex; Zimmern, Philippe

2013-01-01

To review the merit of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration-issued warnings on the use of transvaginal mesh in women with pelvic organ prolapse because of escalating complications. On institutional review board approval, we reviewed the data from 2 tertiary institutions managing complications of transvaginal mesh. The data recorded included mesh type, details of surgical removal, and patient-reported clinical outcomes. From 2006 to March 2011, 58 women were evaluated. Their mean age was 54.6 years (range 32-80), with a mean follow-up of 13 months (range 6-67). The mean interval to mesh excision surgery from the original prolapse surgery was 21 months (range 2-60). Of the 58 women, 35 (60%) had undergone concurrent midurethral sling surgery with the transvaginal mesh surgery. Also, 21 of the 58 patients (36%) had undergone initial mesh removal attempts before their referral to either tertiary institution. Most women presented with multiple complaints, with mesh extrusion the most frequently reported (n=43 [74%]). Of the 58 women, 17 (29%) required re-excision of residual mesh, 13 once and 4 twice. Five women developed recurrent symptomatic pelvic organ prolapse (7%). The residual rate of dyspareunia and pelvic pain was 14% and 22%, respectively. Fourteen women (24%) were treated successfully, with complete resolution of all presenting symptoms. As outlined in the Food and Drug Administration notifications, patients should be forewarned that some transvaginal mesh complications are life altering and might not always be surgically correctable. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

ACCURATUM: improved calcium volume scoring using a mesh-based algorithm - a phantom study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saur, Stefan C.; Szekely, Gabor; Alkadhi, Hatem; Desbiolles, Lotus; Cattin, Philippe C.

2009-01-01

To overcome the limitations of the classical volume scoring method for quantifying coronary calcifications, including accuracy, variability between examinations, and dependency on plaque density and acquisition parameters, a mesh-based volume measurement method has been developed. It was evaluated and compared with the classical volume scoring method for accuracy, i.e., the normalized volume (measured volume/ground-truthed volume), and for variability between examinations (standard deviation of accuracy). A cardiac computed-tomography (CT) phantom containing various cylindrical calcifications was scanned using different tube voltages and reconstruction kernels, at various positions and orientations on the CT table and using different slice thicknesses. Mean accuracy for all plaques was significantly higher (p<0.0001) for the proposed method (1.220±0.507) than for the classical volume score (1.896±1.095). In contrast to the classical volume score, plaque density (p=0.84), reconstruction kernel (p=0.19), and tube voltage (p=0.27) had no impact on the accuracy of the developed method. In conclusion, the method presented herein is more accurate than classical calcium scoring and is less dependent on tube voltage, reconstruction kernel, and plaque density. (orig.)

An automatic way of finding robust elimination trees for a multi-frontal sparse solver for radical 2D hierarchical meshes

KAUST Repository

AbouEisha, Hassan M.

2014-01-01

In this paper we present a dynamic programming algorithm for finding optimal elimination trees for the multi-frontal direct solver algorithm executed over two dimensional meshes with point singularities. The elimination tree found by the optimization algorithm results in a linear computational cost of sequential direct solver. Based on the optimal elimination tree found by the optimization algorithm we construct heuristic sequential multi-frontal direct solver algorithm resulting in a linear computational cost as well as heuristic parallel multi-frontal direct solver algorithm resulting in a logarithmic computational cost. The resulting parallel algorithm is implemented on NVIDIA CUDA GPU architecture based on our graph-grammar approach. © 2014 Springer-Verlag.

A new algorithm for finite element simulation of wedge osteotomies in voxel models with application to the tibia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas Pressel

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Thomas Pressel1, Markus D Schofer1, Jörg Meiforth2, Markus Lengsfeld1, Jan Schmitt11Department of Orthopaedics and Rheumatology, University Hospital Marburg, Marburg, Germany; 2St. Vincentius Kliniken, Klinik für Orthopädie, Karlsruhe, GermanyAbstract: Wedge osteotomies are used to correct bone deformities or change the forces acting on bones and joints in the human body. Finite element models can be employed to simulate the effect of such operations on the bone or adjacent joints. The automatic generation of voxel models derived from computed tomography data is a common procedure, but the major drawback of the method lies in irregular model surfaces. Therefore, the concept of hybrid models combining voxel and tetrahedron meshes was developed. We present an algorithm to simulate wedge osteotomies in voxel models by adding tetrahedron to brick elements. Applicability of the procedure was tested by performing a parametric study using a tibia model created from computed tomography scans taken in vivo applying individually calculated force conditions. The osteotomy angle largely affected maximum stresses: at 2.5 degrees valgus, the stresses at the medial and lateral tibial plateau were equivalent, while increasing valgus angles reduced medial stresses. The algorithm described here is an improvement of former mesh generation procedures and allows a better representation of the geometry at the osteotomy level. The algorithm can be used for all wedge osteotomies and is not limited to the tibia.Keywords: finite element/osteotomy/voxel/pre-operative planning, simulation, mesh algorithm

Are patient specific meshes required for EIT head imaging?

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Jehl, Markus; Aristovich, Kirill; Faulkner, Mayo; Holder, David

2016-06-01

Head imaging with electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is usually done with time-differential measurements, to reduce time-invariant modelling errors. Previous research suggested that more accurate head models improved image quality, but no thorough analysis has been done on the required accuracy. We propose a novel pipeline for creation of precise head meshes from magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scans, which was applied to four different heads. Voltages were simulated on all four heads for perturbations of different magnitude, haemorrhage and ischaemia, in five different positions and for three levels of instrumentation noise. Statistical analysis showed that reconstructions on the correct mesh were on average 25% better than on the other meshes. However, the stroke detection rates were not improved. We conclude that a generic head mesh is sufficient for monitoring patients for secondary strokes following head trauma.

Long-term follow-up of treatment for synthetic mesh complications.

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Hansen, Brooke L; Dunn, Guinn Ellen; Norton, Peggy; Hsu, Yvonne; Nygaard, Ingrid

2014-01-01

The objectives of this study are (1) to describe the presenting symptoms, findings, and treatment and (2) to describe the self-reported improvement and function at least 6 months after presentation in women presenting to 1 urogynecology division for complications associated with synthetic vaginal mesh. Women evaluated between 2006 and 2011 were identified by diagnostic codes. We abstracted information from the medical record and attempted to contact all women to complete a follow-up telephone survey questionnaire consisting of several validated instruments. A total of 111 women were evaluated for complications associated with synthetic vaginal mesh. The mean interval from index surgery was 2.4 years. Of these, 84% were referred from outside hospitals. Index surgeries included vaginal mesh kits/vaginally placed mesh (47%), midurethral mesh slings (37%), abdominally placed vaginal mesh (11%), and vaginal mesh kit with concomitantly placed mesh sling (5%). The most common complications were extrusion (65%), contraction (17%), and chronic pelvic pain (16%). A total of 98 women underwent some type of treatment (85 surgical) by urogynecologists, pelvic pain specialists, or physical therapists. Eighty-four (76%) provided follow-up information at mean interval since presentation of 2.3 years. At follow-up, the mean (SD) Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory score was 98 (67), the mean (SD) EQ-5D index score was 0.69 (0.23), and 22% reported vaginal discharge, 15% vaginal bleeding or spotting, and 45% sexual abstinence due to problems related to mesh. A total of 71% reported being overall better, whereas 29% were the same or worse. Two years after tertiary care level multidisciplinary treatment of vaginal mesh complications, many women still report symptoms that negatively impact their quality of life.

On the efficiency of chaos optimization algorithms for global optimization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang Dixiong; Li Gang; Cheng Gengdong

2007-01-01

Chaos optimization algorithms as a novel method of global optimization have attracted much attention, which were all based on Logistic map. However, we have noticed that the probability density function of the chaotic sequences derived from Logistic map is a Chebyshev-type one, which may affect the global searching capacity and computational efficiency of chaos optimization algorithms considerably. Considering the statistical property of the chaotic sequences of Logistic map and Kent map, the improved hybrid chaos-BFGS optimization algorithm and the Kent map based hybrid chaos-BFGS algorithm are proposed. Five typical nonlinear functions with multimodal characteristic are tested to compare the performance of five hybrid optimization algorithms, which are the conventional Logistic map based chaos-BFGS algorithm, improved Logistic map based chaos-BFGS algorithm, Kent map based chaos-BFGS algorithm, Monte Carlo-BFGS algorithm, mesh-BFGS algorithm. The computational performance of the five algorithms is compared, and the numerical results make us question the high efficiency of the chaos optimization algorithms claimed in some references. It is concluded that the efficiency of the hybrid optimization algorithms is influenced by the statistical property of chaotic/stochastic sequences generated from chaotic/stochastic algorithms, and the location of the global optimum of nonlinear functions. In addition, it is inappropriate to advocate the high efficiency of the global optimization algorithms only depending on several numerical examples of low-dimensional functions

Efficient 3D geometric and Zernike moments computation from unstructured surface meshes.

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Pozo, José María; Villa-Uriol, Maria-Cruz; Frangi, Alejandro F

2011-03-01

This paper introduces and evaluates a fast exact algorithm and a series of faster approximate algorithms for the computation of 3D geometric moments from an unstructured surface mesh of triangles. Being based on the object surface reduces the computational complexity of these algorithms with respect to volumetric grid-based algorithms. In contrast, it can only be applied for the computation of geometric moments of homogeneous objects. This advantage and restriction is shared with other proposed algorithms based on the object boundary. The proposed exact algorithm reduces the computational complexity for computing geometric moments up to order N with respect to previously proposed exact algorithms, from N(9) to N(6). The approximate series algorithm appears as a power series on the rate between triangle size and object size, which can be truncated at any desired degree. The higher the number and quality of the triangles, the better the approximation. This approximate algorithm reduces the computational complexity to N(3). In addition, the paper introduces a fast algorithm for the computation of 3D Zernike moments from the computed geometric moments, with a computational complexity N(4), while the previously proposed algorithm is of order N(6). The error introduced by the proposed approximate algorithms is evaluated in different shapes and the cost-benefit ratio in terms of error, and computational time is analyzed for different moment orders.

Physicomechanical evaluation of polypropylene, polyester, and polytetrafluoroethylene meshes for inguinal hernia repair.

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Deeken, Corey R; Abdo, Michael S; Frisella, Margaret M; Matthews, Brent D

2011-01-01

For meshes to be used effectively for hernia repair, it is imperative that engineers and surgeons standardize the terminology and techniques related to physicomechanical evaluation of these materials. The objectives of this study were to propose standard techniques, perform physicomechanical testing, and classify materials commonly used for inguinal hernia repair. Nine meshes were evaluated: 4 polypropylene, 1 polyester, 1 polytetrafluoroethylene, and 3 partially absorbable. Physical properties were determined through image analysis, laser micrometry, and density measurements. Biomechanical properties were determined through suture retention, tear resistance, uniaxial, and ball burst testing with specimens tested in 2 different orientations. A 1-way ANOVA with Tukey's post-test or a t-test were performed, with p INFINIT (WL Gore & Associates) did not resist tearing as effectively as the others. All meshes exhibited supraphysiologic burst strengths except INFINIT and ULTRAPRO. Significant differences exist between the physicomechanical properties of polypropylene, polyester, polytetrafluoroethylene, and partially absorbable mesh prostheses commonly used for inguinal hernia repair. Orientation of the mesh was also shown to be critical for the success of meshes, particularly those demonstrating anisotropy. Copyright © 2011 American College of Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A security analysis of the 802.11s wireless mesh network routing protocol and its secure routing protocols.

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Whye Kit; Lee, Sang-Gon; Lam, Jun Huy; Yoo, Seong-Moo

2013-09-02

Wireless mesh networks (WMNs) can act as a scalable backbone by connecting separate sensor networks and even by connecting WMNs to a wired network. The Hybrid Wireless Mesh Protocol (HWMP) is the default routing protocol for the 802.11s WMN. The routing protocol is one of the most important parts of the network, and it requires protection, especially in the wireless environment. The existing security protocols, such as the Broadcast Integrity Protocol (BIP), Counter with cipher block chaining message authentication code protocol (CCMP), Secure Hybrid Wireless Mesh Protocol (SHWMP), Identity Based Cryptography HWMP (IBC-HWMP), Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm HWMP (ECDSA-HWMP), and Watchdog-HWMP aim to protect the HWMP frames. In this paper, we have analyzed the vulnerabilities of the HWMP and developed security requirements to protect these identified vulnerabilities. We applied the security requirements to analyze the existing secure schemes for HWMP. The results of our analysis indicate that none of these protocols is able to satisfy all of the security requirements. We also present a quantitative complexity comparison among the protocols and an example of a security scheme for HWMP to demonstrate how the result of our research can be utilized. Our research results thus provide a tool for designing secure schemes for the HWMP.

Shifting Control Algorithm for a Single-Axle Parallel Plug-In Hybrid Electric Bus Equipped with EMT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yunyun Yang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Combining the characteristics of motor with fast response speed, an electric-drive automated mechanical transmission (EMT is proposed as a novel type of transmission in this paper. Replacing the friction synchronization shifting of automated manual transmission (AMT in HEVs, the EMT can achieve active synchronization of speed shifting. The dynamic model of a single-axle parallel PHEV equipped with the EMT is built up, and the dynamic properties of the gearshift process are also described. In addition, the control algorithm is developed to improve the shifting quality of the PHEV equipped with the EMT in all its evaluation indexes. The key techniques of changing the driving force gradient in preshifting and shifting compensation phases as well as of predicting the meshing speed in the gear meshing phase are also proposed. Results of simulation, bench test, and real road test demonstrate that the proposed control algorithm can reduce the gearshift jerk and the power interruption time noticeably.

A New Efficient Algorithm for the All Sorting Reversals Problem with No Bad Components.

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Wang, Biing-Feng

2016-01-01

The problem of finding all reversals that take a permutation one step closer to a target permutation is called the all sorting reversals problem (the ASR problem). For this problem, Siepel had an O(n (3))-time algorithm. Most complications of his algorithm stem from some peculiar structures called bad components. Since bad components are very rare in both real and simulated data, it is practical to study the ASR problem with no bad components. For the ASR problem with no bad components, Swenson et al. gave an O (n(2))-time algorithm. Very recently, Swenson found that their algorithm does not always work. In this paper, a new algorithm is presented for the ASR problem with no bad components. The time complexity is O(n(2)) in the worst case and is linear in the size of input and output in practice.

Method and system for mesh network embedded devices

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Wang, Ray (Inventor)

2009-01-01

A method and system for managing mesh network devices. A mesh network device with integrated features creates an N-way mesh network with a full mesh network topology or a partial mesh network topology.

Extension and optimization of the FIND algorithm: Computing Green’s and less-than Green’s functions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, S.; Darve, E.

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► FIND is an algorithm for calculating entries of the inverse of a sparse matrix. ► We extend the algorithm to other matrix inverse related calculations. ► We exploit sparsity and symmetry to improve performance. - Abstract: The FIND algorithm is a fast algorithm designed to calculate certain entries of the inverse of a sparse matrix. Such calculation is critical in many applications, e.g., quantum transport in nano-devices. We extended the algorithm to other matrix inverse related calculations. Those are required for example to calculate the less-than Green’s function and the current density through the device. For a 2D device discretized as an N x × N y mesh, the best known algorithms have a running time of O(N x 3 N y ), whereas FIND only requires O(N x 2 N y ). Even though this complexity has been reduced by an order of magnitude, the matrix inverse calculation is still the most time consuming part in the simulation of transport problems. We could not reduce the order of complexity, but we were able to significantly reduce the constant factor involved in the computation cost. By exploiting the sparsity and symmetry, the size of the problem beyond which FIND is faster than other methods typically decreases from a 130 × 130 2D mesh down to a 40 × 40 mesh. These improvements make the optimized FIND algorithm even more competitive for real-life applications.

Meshes optimized for discrete exterior calculus (DEC).

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mousley, Sarah C. [Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States); Deakin, Michael [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Knupp, Patrick [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Mitchell, Scott A. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2017-12-01

We study the optimization of an energy function used by the meshing community to measure and improve mesh quality. This energy is non-traditional because it is dependent on both the primal triangulation and its dual Voronoi (power) diagram. The energy is a measure of the mesh's quality for usage in Discrete Exterior Calculus (DEC), a method for numerically solving PDEs. In DEC, the PDE domain is triangulated and this mesh is used to obtain discrete approximations of the continuous operators in the PDE. The energy of a mesh gives an upper bound on the error of the discrete diagonal approximation of the Hodge star operator. In practice, one begins with an initial mesh and then makes adjustments to produce a mesh of lower energy. However, we have discovered several shortcomings in directly optimizing this energy, e.g. its non-convexity, and we show that the search for an optimized mesh may lead to mesh inversion (malformed triangles). We propose a new energy function to address some of these issues.

Adaptive hybrid mesh refinement for multiphysics applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khamayseh, Ahmed; Almeida, Valmor de

2007-01-01

The accuracy and convergence of computational solutions of mesh-based methods is strongly dependent on the quality of the mesh used. We have developed methods for optimizing meshes that are comprised of elements of arbitrary polygonal and polyhedral type. We present in this research the development of r-h hybrid adaptive meshing technology tailored to application areas relevant to multi-physics modeling and simulation. Solution-based adaptation methods are used to reposition mesh nodes (r-adaptation) or to refine the mesh cells (h-adaptation) to minimize solution error. The numerical methods perform either the r-adaptive mesh optimization or the h-adaptive mesh refinement method on the initial isotropic or anisotropic meshes to equidistribute weighted geometric and/or solution error function. We have successfully introduced r-h adaptivity to a least-squares method with spherical harmonics basis functions for the solution of the spherical shallow atmosphere model used in climate modeling. In addition, application of this technology also covers a wide range of disciplines in computational sciences, most notably, time-dependent multi-physics, multi-scale modeling and simulation

Adaptive radial basis function mesh deformation using data reduction

Science.gov (United States)

Gillebaart, T.; Blom, D. S.; van Zuijlen, A. H.; Bijl, H.

2016-09-01

bandwidth available between CPU and memory. In terms of parallel efficiency/scaling the different studied methods perform similarly, with the greedy algorithm being the bottleneck. In terms of absolute computational work the adaptive methods are better for the cases studied due to their more efficient selection of the control points. By automating most of the RBF mesh deformation, a robust, efficient and almost user-independent mesh deformation method is presented.

Constructing C1 Continuous Surface on Irregular Quad Meshes

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

HE Jun; GUO Qiang

2013-01-01

A new method is proposed for surface construction on irregular quad meshes as extensions to uniform B-spline surfaces. Given a number of control points, which form a regular or irregular quad mesh, a weight function is constructed for each control point. The weight function is defined on a local domain and is C1 continuous. Then the whole surface is constructed by the weighted combination of all the control points. The property of the new method is that the surface is defined by piecewise C1 bi-cubic rational parametric polynomial with each quad face. It is an extension to uniform B-spline surfaces in the sense that its definition is an analogy of the B-spline surface, and it produces a uniform bi-cubic B-spline surface if the control mesh is a regular quad mesh. Examples produced by the new method are also included.

Mechanical behaviour of synthetic surgical meshes: finite element simulation of the herniated abdominal wall.

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Hernández-Gascón, B; Peña, E; Melero, H; Pascual, G; Doblaré, M; Ginebra, M P; Bellón, J M; Calvo, B

2011-11-01

The material properties of meshes used in hernia surgery contribute to the overall mechanical behaviour of the repaired abdominal wall. The mechanical response of a surgical mesh has to be defined since the haphazard orientation of an anisotropic mesh can lead to inconsistent surgical outcomes. This study was designed to characterize the mechanical behaviour of three surgical meshes (Surgipro®, Optilene® and Infinit®) and to describe a mechanical constitutive law that accurately reproduces the experimental results. Finally, through finite element simulation, the behaviour of the abdominal wall was modelled before and after surgical mesh implant. Uniaxial loading of mesh samples in two perpendicular directions revealed the isotropic response of Surgipro® and the anisotropic behaviour of Optilene® and Infinit®. A phenomenological constitutive law was used to reproduce the measured experimental curves. To analyze the mechanical effect of the meshes once implanted in the abdomen, finite element simulation of the healthy and partially herniated repaired rabbit abdominal wall served to reproduce wall behaviour before and after mesh implant. In all cases, maximal displacements were lower and maximal principal stresses higher in the implanted abdomen than the intact wall model. Despite the fact that no mesh showed a behaviour that perfectly matched that of abdominal muscle, the Infinit® mesh was able to best comply with the biomechanics of the abdominal wall. Copyright © 2011 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

3D visualization and finite element mesh formation from wood anatomy samples, Part I – Theoretical approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Petr Koňas

2009-01-01

Full Text Available The work summarizes created algorithms for formation of finite element (FE mesh which is derived from bitmap pattern. Process of registration, segmentation and meshing is described in detail. C++ library of STL from Insight Toolkit (ITK Project together with Visualization Toolkit (VTK were used for base processing of images. Several methods for appropriate mesh output are discussed. Multiplatform application WOOD3D for the task under GNU GPL license was assembled. Several methods of segmentation and mainly different ways of contouring were included. Tetrahedral and rectilinear types of mesh were programmed. Improving of mesh quality in some simple ways is mentioned. Testing and verification of final program on wood anatomy samples of spruce and walnut was realized. Methods of microscopic anatomy samples preparation are depicted. Final utilization of formed mesh in the simple structural analysis was performed.The article discusses main problems in image analysis due to incompatible colour spaces, samples preparation, thresholding and final conversion into finite element mesh. Assembling of mentioned tasks together and evaluation of the application are main original results of the presented work. In presented program two thresholding filters were used. By utilization of ITK two following filters were included. Otsu filter based and binary filter based were used. The most problematic task occurred in a production of wood anatomy samples in the unique light conditions with minimal or zero co­lour space shift and the following appropriate definition of thresholds (corresponding thresholding parameters and connected methods (prefiltering + registration which influence the continuity and mainly separation of wood anatomy structure. Solution in samples staining is suggested with the following quick image analysis realization. Next original result of the work is complex fully automated application which offers three types of finite element mesh

Leveraging the power of mesh

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Glass, H. [Cellnet, Alpharetta, GA (United States)

2006-07-01

Mesh network applications are used by utilities for metering, demand response, and mobile workforce management. This presentation provided an overview of a multi-dimensional mesh application designed to offer improved scalability and higher throughput in advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) systems. Mesh applications can be used in AMI for load balancing and forecasting, as well as for distribution and transmission planning. New revenue opportunities can be realized through the application's ability to improve notification and monitoring services, and customer service communications. Mesh network security features include data encryption, data fragmentation and the automatic re-routing of data. In order to use mesh network applications, networks must have sufficient bandwidth and provide flexibility at the endpoint layer to support multiple devices from multiple vendors, as well as support multiple protocols. It was concluded that smart meters will not enable energy response solutions without an underlying AMI that is reliable, scalable and self-healing. .refs., tabs., figs.

Challenging the Myth: Transvaginal Mesh is Not Associated with Carcinogenesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Chughtai, Bilal; Sedrakyan, Art; Mao, Jialin; Thomas, Dominique; Eilber, Karyn S; Clemens, J Quentin; Anger, Jennifer T

2017-10-01

We sought to determine if there was a potential link between synthetic polypropylene mesh implantation for transvaginal pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence, and carcinogenesis using statewide administrative data. Women who underwent transvaginal surgery for pelvic organ prolapse or stress urinary incontinence with mesh between January 2008 and December 2009 in New York State were identified using ICD-9-CM procedure codes and CPT-4 codes. Patients in the mesh cohort were individually matched to 2 control cohorts based on comorbidities and procedure date. Carcinogenesis was determined before and after matching at 1, 2 and 3 years, and during the entire followup time. A total of 2,229 patients who underwent mesh based pelvic organ prolapse surgery and 10,401 who underwent sling surgery for stress urinary incontinence between January 2008 and December 2009 were included in the study. Mean followup was 6 years (range 5 to 7). Exact matching between the mesh and control cohorts resulted in 1,870 pairs for pelvic organ prolapse mesh and cholecystectomy (1:2), 1,278 pairs for pelvic organ prolapse mesh and hysterectomy (1:1), 7,986 pairs for sling and cholecystectomy (1:1) and 3,810 pairs for sling and hysterectomy (1:1). Transvaginal mesh implantation was not associated with an increased risk of a cancer diagnosis (pelvic/local cancers or any cancer) at 1 year and during the entire followup of up to 7 years. Transvaginal surgery with implantation of mesh was not associated with the development of malignancy at a mean followup of 6 years. Copyright © 2017 American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Vacuum assisted closure therapy in the treatment of mesh infection after hernia repair.

Science.gov (United States)

Tamhankar, A P; Ravi, K; Everitt, N J

2009-10-01

Mesh related infection after prosthetic abdominal wall hernia repair is a difficult clinical problem, particularly in an era of evolving microbial resistance. Commonly advocated treatment for such infection involves complete mesh excision which usually leaves a complicated weak wound. We report the use ofVAC therapy for mesh infections that allows mesh preservation leaving a sound wound. From june 2002 to January 2007, four patients with mesh related infection after abdominal wall hernia repair were treated with VAC therapy. Patients' notes were reviewed to gather clinical details. Mesh infection was evident after a variable period (day three to eight years) following hernia repair. Of the four patients, one had infection with methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), while the bacteriological cultures from two confirmed Staphylococcus aureus in one and a mixture of Pseudomonas and enterococcus species in the other. One patient failed to show significant bacterial growth on pus swab culture, having had prior broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment for mesh infection. Three patients had complete mesh preservation and one had partial mesh excision. All patients were treated with VAC therapy, following the drainage of their operation sites, until the visible mesh was covered with granulation (one to seven weeks). No patient had a recurrent hernia after complete wound healing. VAC therapy allows salvage of infected exposed mesh by promoting granulation through the mesh. Judicious use of VAC therapy may prevent the need of mesh excision and its wound related complications.

Hernia Surgical Mesh Implants

Science.gov (United States)

... knitted mesh or non-knitted sheet forms. The synthetic materials used can be absorbable, non-absorbable or a combination of absorbable and non-absorbable materials. Animal-derived mesh are made of animal tissue, such as intestine or skin, that has been processed and disinfected to be ...

Male infertility after mesh hernia repair: A prospective study.

Science.gov (United States)

Hallén, Magnus; Sandblom, Gabriel; Nordin, Pär; Gunnarsson, Ulf; Kvist, Ulrik; Westerdahl, Johan

2011-02-01

Several animal studies have raised concern about the risk for obstructive azoospermia owing to vasal fibrosis caused by the use of alloplastic mesh prosthesis in inguinal hernia repair. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of male infertility after bilateral mesh repair. In a prospective study, a questionnaire inquiring about involuntary childlessness, investigation for infertility and number of children was sent by mail to a group of 376 men aged 18-55 years, who had undergone bilateral mesh repair, identified in the Swedish Hernia Register (SHR). Questionnaires were also sent to 2 control groups, 1 consisting of 186 men from the SHR who had undergone bilateral repair without mesh, and 1 consisting of 383 men identified in the general population. The control group from the SHR was matched 2:1 for age and years elapsed since operation. The control group from the general population was matched 1:1 for age and marital status. The overall response rate was 525 of 945 (56%). Method of approach (anterior or posterior), type of mesh, and testicular status at the time of the repair had no significant impact on the answers to the questions. Nor did subgroup analysis of the men ≤40 years old reveal any significant differences. The results of this prospective study in men do not support the hypothesis that bilateral inguinal hernia repair with alloplastic mesh prosthesis causes male infertility at a significantly greater rate than those operated without mesh. Copyright © 2011 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Numerical convergence of discrete exterior calculus on arbitrary surface meshes

KAUST Repository

Mohamed, Mamdouh S.

2018-02-13

Discrete exterior calculus (DEC) is a structure-preserving numerical framework for partial differential equations solution, particularly suitable for simplicial meshes. A longstanding and widespread assumption has been that DEC requires special (Delaunay) triangulations, which complicated the mesh generation process especially for curved surfaces. This paper presents numerical evidence demonstrating that this restriction is unnecessary. Convergence experiments are carried out for various physical problems using both Delaunay and non-Delaunay triangulations. Signed diagonal definition for the key DEC operator (Hodge star) is adopted. The errors converge as expected for all considered meshes and experiments. This relieves the DEC paradigm from unnecessary triangulation limitation.

Incisional hernia prevention using a cyanoacrilate-fixed retrofascial mesh.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoyuela, Carlos; Juvany, Montserrat; Trias, Miquel; Ardid, Jordi; Martrat, Antoni

2018-01-01

The rate of incisional hernia in high-risk patients (obesity, cancer, etc.) is high, even in laparoscopic surgery. The aim of this study is to evaluate the safety of the use of cyanoacrylate fixed prophylactic meshes in the assistance incision in overweight or obese patients undergoing laparoscopic colorectal surgery. A prospective, non-randomized cohort study of patients undergoing elective laparoscopic resection for colorectal cancer between January 2013 and March 2016 was performed. Those with a body mass index greater than 25kg / m 2 were evaluated to implant a prophylactic meshes fixed with cyanoacrylate (Histoacryl®) as reinforcement of the assistance incision. 52 patients were analyzed (mean body mass index: 28.4±2kg / m 2 ). Prophylactic meshes was implanted in 15 patients. The time to put the mesh in place was always less than 5minutes. There was no significant difference in wound infection rate (12% vs. 10%). No mesh had to be explanted. Although the mean follow-up was shorter (14.1±4 vs. 22.3±9 months), there were no incisional hernia in the mesh group. On the other hand, in the non-mesh group, 1 acute evisceration (2.7%) and 4 incisional hernia of the assistance incision were observed (10.8%). There were no significant differences between groups regarding trocar incisional hernia (6.6 vs. 5.4%). The implantation of a reinforcement prophylactic mesh in overweight or obese patients undergoing laparoscopic colorectal surgery is safe and seems to reduce the short-term rate of incisional hernia. Fixation with cyanoacrylate is a rapid method that facilitates the procedure without additional complications. Copyright © 2017 AEC. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Bessel smoothing filter for spectral-element mesh

Science.gov (United States)

Trinh, P. T.; Brossier, R.; Métivier, L.; Virieux, J.; Wellington, P.

2017-06-01

Smoothing filters are extremely important tools in seismic imaging and inversion, such as for traveltime tomography, migration and waveform inversion. For efficiency, and as they can be used a number of times during inversion, it is important that these filters can easily incorporate prior information on the geological structure of the investigated medium, through variable coherent lengths and orientation. In this study, we promote the use of the Bessel filter to achieve these purposes. Instead of considering the direct application of the filter, we demonstrate that we can rely on the equation associated with its inverse filter, which amounts to the solution of an elliptic partial differential equation. This enhances the efficiency of the filter application, and also its flexibility. We apply this strategy within a spectral-element-based elastic full waveform inversion framework. Taking advantage of this formulation, we apply the Bessel filter by solving the associated partial differential equation directly on the spectral-element mesh through the standard weak formulation. This avoids cumbersome projection operators between the spectral-element mesh and a regular Cartesian grid, or expensive explicit windowed convolution on the finite-element mesh, which is often used for applying smoothing operators. The associated linear system is solved efficiently through a parallel conjugate gradient algorithm, in which the matrix vector product is factorized and highly optimized with vectorized computation. Significant scaling behaviour is obtained when comparing this strategy with the explicit convolution method. The theoretical numerical complexity of this approach increases linearly with the coherent length, whereas a sublinear relationship is observed practically. Numerical illustrations are provided here for schematic examples, and for a more realistic elastic full waveform inversion gradient smoothing on the SEAM II benchmark model. These examples illustrate well the

Laparoscopic sacrocolpopexy for recurrent pelvic organ prolapse after failed transvaginal polypropylene mesh surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmid, Corina; O'Rourke, Peter; Maher, Christopher

2013-05-01

A prospective case series to assess the safety and efficacy of laparoscopic sacrocolpopexy for the surgical management of recurrent pelvic organ prolapse (POP) after transvaginal polypropylene mesh prolapse surgery. Between January and December 2010, women with post-hysterectomy recurrent prolapse (≥ stage 2 POP-Q) after transvaginal polypropylene mesh prolapse surgery were included. Perioperative morbidity and short-term complications were recorded and evaluated. Surgical outcomes were objectively assessed utilising the Pelvic Organ Prolapse Quantification system (POP-Q), the validated, condition-specific Australian Pelvic Floor Questionnaire (APFQ) and the Patient Global Impression of Improvement (PGI-I) at 12 months. All 16 women in this study had undergone surgery with trocar-guided transvaginal polypropylene mesh kits. In 75% the recurrent prolapse affected the compartment of prior mesh surgery with the anterior (81%) and apical (75%) compartment prolapse predominating. At a mean follow-up of 12 months, all women had resolution of awareness of prolapse, had transvaginal mesh surgery is feasible and safe. Further widespread evaluation is required.

An adaptive mesh refinement-multiphase lattice Boltzmann flux solver for simulation of complex binary fluid flows

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, H. Z.; Wang, Y.; Shu, C.

2017-12-01

This paper presents an adaptive mesh refinement-multiphase lattice Boltzmann flux solver (AMR-MLBFS) for effective simulation of complex binary fluid flows at large density ratios. In this method, an AMR algorithm is proposed by introducing a simple indicator on the root block for grid refinement and two possible statuses for each block. Unlike available block-structured AMR methods, which refine their mesh by spawning or removing four child blocks simultaneously, the present method is able to refine its mesh locally by spawning or removing one to four child blocks independently when the refinement indicator is triggered. As a result, the AMR mesh used in this work can be more focused on the flow region near the phase interface and its size is further reduced. In each block of mesh, the recently proposed MLBFS is applied for the solution of the flow field and the level-set method is used for capturing the fluid interface. As compared with existing AMR-lattice Boltzmann models, the present method avoids both spatial and temporal interpolations of density distribution functions so that converged solutions on different AMR meshes and uniform grids can be obtained. The proposed method has been successfully validated by simulating a static bubble immersed in another fluid, a falling droplet, instabilities of two-layered fluids, a bubble rising in a box, and a droplet splashing on a thin film with large density ratios and high Reynolds numbers. Good agreement with the theoretical solution, the uniform-grid result, and/or the published data has been achieved. Numerical results also show its effectiveness in saving computational time and virtual memory as compared with computations on uniform meshes.

Clinical outcomes after parastomal hernia repair with a polyester monofilament composite mesh

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Oma, E; Pilsgaard, B; Jorgensen, L N

2018-01-01

with intraperitoneal placement of a polyester monofilament macroporous composite mesh. METHODS: Data on all patients undergoing parastomal hernia repair with Parietex™ Composite Parastomal Mesh at our institution during a 4-year period were examined. Patients with urostomy were excluded. A team of three experienced...... chronic pain. CONCLUSION: In this study, we found low rates of recurrence and chronic pain following parastomal hernia repair using intraperitoneal reinforcement with a polyester monofilament composite mesh....

The Monte Carlo photoionization and moving-mesh radiation hydrodynamics code CMACIONIZE

Science.gov (United States)

Vandenbroucke, B.; Wood, K.

2018-04-01

We present the public Monte Carlo photoionization and moving-mesh radiation hydrodynamics code CMACIONIZE, which can be used to simulate the self-consistent evolution of HII regions surrounding young O and B stars, or other sources of ionizing radiation. The code combines a Monte Carlo photoionization algorithm that uses a complex mix of hydrogen, helium and several coolants in order to self-consistently solve for the ionization and temperature balance at any given type, with a standard first order hydrodynamics scheme. The code can be run as a post-processing tool to get the line emission from an existing simulation snapshot, but can also be used to run full radiation hydrodynamical simulations. Both the radiation transfer and the hydrodynamics are implemented in a general way that is independent of the grid structure that is used to discretize the system, allowing it to be run both as a standard fixed grid code, but also as a moving-mesh code.

Prevention of parastomal hernia with a preperitoneal polypropelene mesh.

Science.gov (United States)

Valdés-Hernández, Javier; Díaz Milanés, Juan Antonio; Capitán Morales, Luis Cristóbal; Del Río la Fuente, Francisco Javier; Torres Arcos, Cristina; Cañete Gómez, Jesús; Oliva Mompeán, Fernando; Padillo Ruiz, Javier

2015-01-01

To show our results with the use of a polypropylene mesh at the stoma site, as prophylaxis of parastomal hernias in patients with rectal cancer when a terminal colostomy is performed. From January 2010 until March 2014, 45 consecutive patients with rectal cancer, underwent surgical treatment with the need of a terminal colostomy. A prophylactic mesh was placed in a sublay position at the stoma site in all cases. We analyze Demographics, technical issues and effectiveness of the procedure, as well as subsequent complications. A prophylactic mesh was placed in 45 patients, 35 male and 10 females, mean age of 66.2 (47-88) and Body Mass Index 29.19 (20.4-40.6). A total of 7 middle rectal carcinoma, 36 low rectal carcinoma, one rectal melanoma and one squamous cell anal carcinoma were electively treated with identical protocol. Abdominoperineal resection was performed in 38 patients, and low anterior resection with terminal colostomy in 7. An open approach was elected in 39 patients and laparoscopy in 6, with 2 conversions to open surgery. Medium follow up was 22 months (2.1-53). Overall, 3 parastomal hernias (6.66%) were found, one of which was a radiological finding with no clinical significance. No complications related to the mesh or the colostomy were found. The use of a prophylactic polypropylene mesh placed in a sublay position at the stoma site is a safe and feasible technique. It lowers the incidence of parastomal hernias with no increased morbidity. Copyright © 2014 AEC. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Postoperative Urinary Retention and Urinary Tract Infections Predict Midurethral Sling Mesh Complications.

Science.gov (United States)

Punjani, Nahid; Winick-Ng, Jennifer; Welk, Blayne

2017-01-01

To determine if postoperative urinary retention and urinary tract infections (UTIs) were predictors of future mesh complications requiring surgical intervention after midurethral sling (MUS). Administrative data in Ontario, Canada, between 2002 and 2013 were used to identify all women who underwent a mesh-based MUS. The primary outcome was revision of the transvaginal mesh sling (including mesh removal/erosion/fistula, or urethrolysis). Two potential risk factors were analyzed: postoperative retention (within 30 days of procedure) and number of postoperative emergency room visits or hospital admissions for UTI symptoms. A total of 59,556 women had a MUS, of which 1598 (2.7%) required revision surgery. Of the 2025 women who presented to the emergency room or were admitted to hospital for postoperative retention, 212 (10.5%) required operative mesh revision. Of the 11,747 patients who had at least one postoperative UTI, 366 (3.1%) patients required operative mesh revision. In adjusted analysis, postoperative retention was significantly predictive of future reoperation (hazard ratio [HR] 3.46, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.97-4.02), and this difference persisted when urethrolysis was excluded as a reason for sling revision (HR 3.08, 95% CI 2.62-3.63). Similarly, in adjusted analysis, each additional postoperative hospital visit for UTI symptoms increased the risk for surgical intervention for mesh complications (HR 1.74, 95% CI 1.61-1.87). Postoperative urinary retention and hospital presentation for UTI symptoms are associated with an increased risk of reoperation for MUS complications. These patients should be followed and investigated for mesh complications when appropriate. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Comparison of a lightweight polypropylene mesh (Optilene® LP) and a large-pore knitted PTFE mesh (GORE® INFINIT® mesh)--Biocompatibility in a standardized endoscopic extraperitoneal hernia model.

Science.gov (United States)

Jacob, Dietmar A; Schug-Pass, Christine; Sommerer, Florian; Tannapfel, Andrea; Lippert, Hans; Köckerling, Ferdinand

2012-02-01

The use of a mesh with good biocompatibility properties is of decisive importance for the avoidance of recurrences and chronic pain in endoscopic hernia repair surgery. As we know from numerous experiments and clinical experience, large-pore, lightweight polypropylene meshes possess the best biocompatibility. However, large-pore meshes of different polymers may be used as well and might be an alternative solution. Utilizing a totally extraperitoneal technique in an established animal model, 20 domestic pigs were implanted with either a lightweight large-pore polypropylene (PP) mesh (Optilene® LP) or a medium-weight large-pore knitted polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE) mesh (GORE® INFINIT® mesh). After 94 days, the pigs were sacrificed and postmortem diagnostic laparoscopy was performed, followed by explantation of the specimens for macroscopic, histological and immunohistochemical evaluation. The mean mesh shrinkage rate was 14.2% for Optilene® LP vs. 24.7% for INFINIT® mesh (p = 0.017). The partial volume of the inflammatory cells was 11.2% for Optilene® LP vs. 13.9% for INFINIT (n.s.). CD68 was significantly higher for INFINIT (11.8% vs. 5.6%, p = 0.007). The markers of cell turnover, namely Ki67 and the apoptotic index, were comparable at 6.4% vs. 12.4% (n.s.) and 1.6% vs. 2.0% (n.s.). In the extracellular matrix, TGF-β was 35.4% for Optilene® LP and 31.0% for INFINIT® (n.s.). Collagen I (pos/300 μm) deposits were 117.8 and 114.9, respectively. In our experimental examinations, Optilene® LP and INFINIT® showed a comparable biocompatibility in terms of chronic inflammatory reaction; however, the shrinkage rate was significantly higher for INFINIT® after 3 months. The higher shrinkage rate of INFINIT® should be taken into account when choosing the mesh size for an adequate hernia overlap.

A solution algorithm for fluid-particle flows across all flow regimes

Science.gov (United States)

Kong, Bo; Fox, Rodney O.

2017-09-01

Many fluid-particle flows occurring in nature and in technological applications exhibit large variations in the local particle volume fraction. For example, in circulating fluidized beds there are regions where the particles are close-packed as well as very dilute regions where particle-particle collisions are rare. Thus, in order to simulate such fluid-particle systems, it is necessary to design a flow solver that can accurately treat all flow regimes occurring simultaneously in the same flow domain. In this work, a solution algorithm is proposed for this purpose. The algorithm is based on splitting the free-transport flux solver dynamically and locally in the flow. In close-packed to moderately dense regions, a hydrodynamic solver is employed, while in dilute to very dilute regions a kinetic-based finite-volume solver is used in conjunction with quadrature-based moment methods. To illustrate the accuracy and robustness of the proposed solution algorithm, it is implemented in OpenFOAM for particle velocity moments up to second order, and applied to simulate gravity-driven, gas-particle flows exhibiting cluster-induced turbulence. By varying the average particle volume fraction in the flow domain, it is demonstrated that the flow solver can handle seamlessly all flow regimes present in fluid-particle flows.

Multigrid for refined triangle meshes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shapira, Yair

1997-02-01

A two-level preconditioning method for the solution of (locally) refined finite element schemes using triangle meshes is introduced. In the isotropic SPD case, it is shown that the condition number of the preconditioned stiffness matrix is bounded uniformly for all sufficiently regular triangulations. This is also verified numerically for an isotropic diffusion problem with highly discontinuous coefficients.

Parallel adaptive simulations on unstructured meshes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shephard, M S; Jansen, K E; Sahni, O; Diachin, L A

2007-01-01

This paper discusses methods being developed by the ITAPS center to support the execution of parallel adaptive simulations on unstructured meshes. The paper first outlines the ITAPS approach to the development of interoperable mesh, geometry and field services to support the needs of SciDAC application in these areas. The paper then demonstrates the ability of unstructured adaptive meshing methods built on such interoperable services to effectively solve important physics problems. Attention is then focused on ITAPs' developing ability to solve adaptive unstructured mesh problems on massively parallel computers

[Medpor plus titanic mesh implant in the repair of orbital blowout fractures].

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Xiao-hui; Zhang, Jia-yu; Cai, Jian-qiu; Shi, Ming-guang

2011-05-10

To study the efficacy of porous polyethylene (Medpor) plus titanic mesh sheets in the repair of orbital blowout fractures. A total of 20 patients underwent open surgical reduction with the combined usage of Medpor and titanic mesh. And they were followed up for average period of 14.5 months (range: 9 - 18). There is no infection or extrusion of medpor and titanic mesh in follow-up periods. There was no instance of decreased visual acuity at post-operation. And all cases of enophthalmos were corrected. The post-operative protrusion degree of both eyes was almost identical at less than 2 mm. The movement of eye balls was satisfactory in all directions. Diplopia disappeared in 18 cases with a cure rate of 90%, 1 case improved and 1 case persisted. Medpor plus titanic mesh implant is a safe and effective treatment in the repair of orbital blow out fractures.

Textile properties of synthetic prolapse mesh in response to uniaxial loading

Science.gov (United States)

Barone, William R.; Moalli, Pamela A.; Abramowitch, Steven D.

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND Although synthetic mesh is associated with superior anatomic outcomes for the repair of pelvic organ prolapse, the benefits of mesh have been questioned because of the relatively high complication rates. To date, the mechanisms that result in such complications are poorly understood, yet the textile characteristics of mesh products are believed to play an important role. Interestingly, the pore diameter of synthetic mesh has been shown to impact the host response after hernia repair greatly, and such findings have served as design criteria for prolapse meshes, with larger pores viewed as more favorable. Although pore size and porosity are well-characterized before implantation, the changes in these textile properties after implantation are unclear; the application of mechanical forces has the potential to greatly alter pore geometries in vivo. Understanding the impact of mechanical loading on the textile properties of mesh is essential for the development of more effective devices for prolapse repair. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to determine the effect of tensile loading and pore orientation on mesh porosity and pore dimensions. STUDY DESIGN In this study, the porosity and pore diameter of 4 currently available prolapse meshes were examined in response to uniaxial tensile loads of 0.1, 5, and 10 N while mimicking clinical loading conditions. The textile properties were compared with those observed for the unloaded mesh. Meshes included Gynemesh PS (Ethicon, Somerville, NJ), UltraPro (Artisyn; Ethicon), Restorelle (Coloplast, Minneapolis, MN), and Alyte Y-mesh (Bard, Covington, GA). In addition to the various pore geometries, 3 orientations of Restorelle (0-, 5-, 45-degree offset) and 2 orientations of UltraPro (0-, 90-degree offset) were examined. RESULTS In response to uniaxial loading, both porosity and pore diameter dramatically decreased for most mesh products. The application of 5 N led to reductions in porosity for nearly all groups

Automatic mesh generation with QMESH program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ise, Takeharu; Tsutsui, Tsuneo

1977-05-01

Usage of the two-dimensional self-organizing mesh generation program, QMESH, is presented together with the descriptions and the experience, as it has recently been converted and reconstructed from the NEACPL version to the FACOM. The program package consists of the QMESH code to generate quadrilaterial meshes with smoothing techniques, the QPLOT code to plot the data obtained from the QMESH on the graphic COM, and the RENUM code to renumber the meshes by using a bandwidth minimization procedure. The technique of mesh reconstructuring coupled with smoothing techniques is especially useful when one generates the meshes for computer codes based on the finite element method. Several typical examples are given for easy access to the QMESH program, which is registered in the R.B-disks of JAERI for users. (auth.)

The Effect of Cyclic Loading on the Mechanical Performance of Surgical Mesh

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ho Y.C.

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Polymeric meshes in the form of knitted nets are commonly used in the surgical repair of pelvic organ prolapses. Although a number of these prosthetic meshes are commercially available, there is little published data on their mechanical performance, in particular on the change in stiffness under the repeated loading experienced in vivo. In this in vitro study, cyclic tensile loading was applied to rectangular strips of four different commercially available meshes. The applied force and resultant displacement was monitored throughout the tests in order to evaluate the change in stiffness. In addition, each mesh was randomly marked using indelible ink in order to permit the use of threedimensional digital image correlation to evaluate local displacements during the tests. However, the scale and form of the deformation experienced by some of the meshes made correlation difficult so that confirmation of the values of stiffness were only obtained for two meshes. The results demonstrate that all the meshes experience an increase in stiffness during cyclic loading, that in most cases cyclic creep occurs and in some cases large-scale, irreversible reorganisation of the mesh structure occurs after as few as 200 cycles at loads of the order of 10N.

Discrete geometric structures for architecture

KAUST Repository

Pottmann, Helmut

2010-06-13

The emergence of freeform structures in contemporary architecture raises numerous challenging research problems, most of which are related to the actual fabrication and are a rich source of research topics in geometry and geometric computing. The talk will provide an overview of recent progress in this field, with a particular focus on discrete geometric structures. Most of these result from practical requirements on segmenting a freeform shape into planar panels and on the physical realization of supporting beams and nodes. A study of quadrilateral meshes with planar faces reveals beautiful relations to discrete differential geometry. In particular, we discuss meshes which discretize the network of principal curvature lines. Conical meshes are among these meshes; they possess conical offset meshes at a constant face/face distance, which in turn leads to a supporting beam layout with so-called torsion free nodes. This work can be generalized to a variety of multilayer structures and laid the ground for an adapted curvature theory for these meshes. There are also efforts on segmenting surfaces into planar hexagonal panels. Though these are less constrained than planar quadrilateral panels, this problem is still waiting for an elegant solution. Inspired by freeform designs in architecture which involve circles and spheres, we present a new kind of triangle mesh whose faces\\' in-circles form a packing, i.e., the in-circles of two triangles with a common edge have the same contact point on that edge. These "circle packing (CP) meshes" exhibit an aesthetic balance of shape and size of their faces. They are closely tied to sphere packings on surfaces and to various remarkable structures and patterns which are of interest in art, architecture, and design. CP meshes constitute a new link between architectural freeform design and computational conformal geometry. Recently, certain timber structures motivated us to study discrete patterns of geodesics on surfaces. This

Solution of the neutron transport equation by the Method of Characteristics using a linear representation of the source within a mesh

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mazumdar, Tanay; Degweker, S.B.

2017-01-01

Highlights: • In Method of Characteristics, the neutron source within a mesh is expanded up to linear term. • This expansion reduces the number of meshes as compared to flat source assumption. • Poor representation of circular geometry with coarser meshes is corrected. • Few benchmark problems are solved to show the advantages of linear expansion of source. • The advantage of the present formalism is quite visible in problems with large flux gradient. - Abstract: A common assumption in the solution of the neutron transport equation by the Method of Characteristics (MOC) is that the source (or flux) is constant within a mesh. This assumption is adequate provided the meshes are small enough so that the spatial variation of flux within a mesh may be ignored. Whether a mesh is small enough or not depends upon the flux gradient across a mesh, which in turn depends on factors like the presence of strong absorbers, localized sources or vacuum boundaries. The flat flux assumption often requires a very large number of meshes for solving the neutron transport equation with acceptable accuracy as was observed in our earlier work on the subject. A significant reduction in the required number of meshes is attainable by using a higher order representation of the flux within a mesh. In this paper, we expand the source within a mesh up to first order (linear) terms, which permits the use of larger sized (and therefore fewer) meshes and thereby reduces the computation time without compromising the accuracy of calculation. Since the division of the geometry into meshes is through an automatic triangulation procedure using the Bowyer-Watson algorithm, representation of circular objects (cylindrical fuel rods) with coarse meshes is poorer and causes geometry related errors. A numerical recipe is presented to make a correction to the automatic triangulation process and thereby eliminate this source of error. A number of benchmark problems are analyzed to emphasize the

Synchronization Algorithm for SDN-controlled All-Optical TDM Switching in a Random Length Ring Network

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kamchevska, Valerija; Cristofori, Valentina; Da Ros, Francesco

2016-01-01

We propose and demonstrate an algorithm that allows for automatic synchronization of SDN-controlled all-optical TDM switching nodes connected in a ring network. We experimentally show successful WDM-SDM transmission of data bursts between all ring nodes.......We propose and demonstrate an algorithm that allows for automatic synchronization of SDN-controlled all-optical TDM switching nodes connected in a ring network. We experimentally show successful WDM-SDM transmission of data bursts between all ring nodes....

The routine use of prosthetic mesh in austere environments: dogma vs data.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuckelman, John P; Barron, Morgan R; Blair, Kelly; Martin, Matthew J

2016-05-01

Mesh repair has become the standard in adult hernia repairs. Mesh infection is an uncommon but potentially devastating complication. Currently, there is widespread dogma against the use of prosthetic mesh (PM) in deployed or austere environments but little available data to support or refute this bias. Retrospective review of all hernia repairs over 1 year in a forward deployed surgical unit in Afghanistan. Demographics, hernia type, repair performed, and mesh type were evaluated. Follow-up was completed up to 6 weeks and then as needed for up to a year, and complications to include infection were recorded. Sixty-six patients were identified, mean age was 38 (range 3 to 80) and 98% were male. Single-dose perioperative antibiotics and standard sterile technique were used in all cases. The majority (70%) had PM placed. The mean operative time was 54 min, and mean estimated blood loss was less than 25 cm(3). The vast majority of our hernias were inguinal (95%) with 1 ventral and 2 umbilical hernias. In the PM group, there were no surgical site infections, no mesh infections, and no mesh explantation or reoperation. There were no recurrences in either group identified at up to 1-year postoperation. There was no statistically significant difference in any outcome measure between the PM and no-PM groups. The use of PM for hernia repairs in the austere or forward environment appears safe and did not increase the risk of wound infection, mesh infections, or recurrence. Published by Elsevier Inc.

A self-cleaning underwater superoleophobic mesh for oil-water separation

KAUST Repository

Zhang, Lianbin

2013-07-31

Oil-water separation has recently become a global challenging task because of the frequent occurrence of oil spill accidents due to the offshore oil production and transportation, and there is an increasing demand for the development of effective and inexpensive approaches for the cleaning-up of the oily pollution in water system. In this study, a self-cleaning underwater superoleophobic mesh that can be used for oil-water separation is prepared by the layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly of sodium silicate and TiO2 nanoparticles on the stainless steel mesh. The integration of the self-cleaning property into the all-inorganic separation mesh by using TiO2 enables the convenient removal of the contaminants by ultraviolet (UV) illumination, and allows for the facile recovery of the separation ability of the contaminated mesh, making it promising for practial oil-water separation applications.

Mesh-free free-form lensing - I. Methodology and application to mass reconstruction

Science.gov (United States)

Merten, Julian

2016-09-01

Many applications and algorithms in the field of gravitational lensing make use of meshes with a finite number of nodes to analyse and manipulate data. Specific examples in lensing are astronomical CCD images in general, the reconstruction of density distributions from lensing data, lens-source plane mapping or the characterization and interpolation of a point spread function. We present a numerical framework to interpolate and differentiate in the mesh-free domain, defined by nodes with coordinates that follow no regular pattern. The framework is based on radial basis functions (RBFs) to smoothly represent data around the nodes. We demonstrate the performance of Gaussian RBF-based, mesh-free interpolation and differentiation, which reaches the sub-percent level in both cases. We use our newly developed framework to translate ideas of free-form mass reconstruction from lensing on to the mesh-free domain. By reconstructing a simulated mock lens we find that strong-lensing only reconstructions achieve <10 per cent accuracy in the areas where these constraints are available but provide poorer results when departing from these regions. Weak-lensing only reconstructions give <10 per cent accuracy outside the strong-lensing regime, but cannot resolve the inner core structure of the lens. Once both regimes are combined, accurate reconstructions can be achieved over the full field of view. The reconstruction of a simulated lens, using constraints that mimics real observations, yields accurate results in terms of surface-mass density, Navarro-Frenk-White profile (NFW) parameters, Einstein radius and magnification map recovery, encouraging the application of this method to real data.

What does it all mean? Capturing Semantics of Surgical Data and Algorithms with Ontologies

OpenAIRE

Katić, Darko; Maleshkova, Maria; Engelhardt, Sandy; Wolf, Ivo; März, Keno; Maier-Hein, Lena; Nolden, Marco; Wagner, Martin; Kenngott, Hannes; Müller-Stich, Beat Peter; Dillmann, Rüdiger; Speidel, Stefanie

2017-01-01

Every year approximately 234 million major surgeries are performed, leading to plentiful, highly diverse data. This is accompanied by a matching number of novel algorithms for the surgical domain. To garner all benefits of surgical data science it is necessary to have an unambiguous, shared understanding of algorithms and data. This includes inputs and outputs of algorithms and thus their function, but also the semantic content, i.e. meaning of data such as patient parameters. We therefore pr...

Optimised Design and Analysis of All-Optical Networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Glenstrup, Arne John

2002-01-01

through various experiments and is shown to produce good results and to be able to scale up to networks of realistic sizes. A novel method, subpath wavelength grouping, for routing connections in a multigranular all-optical network where several wavelengths can be grouped and switched at band and fibre......This PhD thesis presents a suite of methods for optimising design and for analysing blocking probabilities of all-optical networks. It thus contributes methodical knowledge to the field of computer assisted planning of optical networks. A two-stage greenfield optical network design optimiser...... is developed, based on shortest-path algorithms and a comparatively new metaheuristic called simulated allocation. It is able to handle design of all-optical mesh networks with optical cross-connects, considers duct as well as fibre and node costs, and can also design protected networks. The method is assessed...

Unstructured mesh adaptivity for urban flooding modelling

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, R.; Fang, F.; Salinas, P.; Pain, C. C.

2018-05-01

Over the past few decades, urban floods have been gaining more attention due to their increase in frequency. To provide reliable flooding predictions in urban areas, various numerical models have been developed to perform high-resolution flood simulations. However, the use of high-resolution meshes across the whole computational domain causes a high computational burden. In this paper, a 2D control-volume and finite-element flood model using adaptive unstructured mesh technology has been developed. This adaptive unstructured mesh technique enables meshes to be adapted optimally in time and space in response to the evolving flow features, thus providing sufficient mesh resolution where and when it is required. It has the advantage of capturing the details of local flows and wetting and drying front while reducing the computational cost. Complex topographic features are represented accurately during the flooding process. For example, the high-resolution meshes around the buildings and steep regions are placed when the flooding water reaches these regions. In this work a flooding event that happened in 2002 in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom has been simulated to demonstrate the capability of the adaptive unstructured mesh flooding model. The simulations have been performed using both fixed and adaptive unstructured meshes, and then results have been compared with those published 2D and 3D results. The presented method shows that the 2D adaptive mesh model provides accurate results while having a low computational cost.

Quality of pharmacy-specific Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) assignment in pharmacy journals indexed in MEDLINE.

Science.gov (United States)

Minguet, Fernando; Salgado, Teresa M; van den Boogerd, Lucienne; Fernandez-Llimos, Fernando

2015-01-01

The Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) is the National Library of Medicine (NLM) controlled vocabulary for indexing articles. Inaccuracies in the MeSH thesaurus have been reported for several areas including pharmacy. To assess the quality of pharmacy-specific MeSH assignment to articles indexed in pharmacy journals. The 10 journals containing the highest number of articles published in 2012 indexed under the MeSH 'Pharmacists' were identified. All articles published over a 5-year period (2008-2012) in the 10 previously selected journals were retrieved from PubMed. MeSH terms used to index these articles were extracted and pharmacy-specific MeSH terms were identified. The frequency of use of pharmacy-specific MeSH terms was calculated across journals. A total of 6989 articles were retrieved from the 10 pharmacy journals, of which 328 (4.7%) were articles not fully indexed and therefore did not contain any MeSH terms assigned. Among the 6661 articles fully indexed, the mean number of MeSH terms was 10.1 (SD = 4.0), being 1.0 (SD = 1.3) considered as Major MeSH. Both values significantly varied across journals. The mean number of pharmacy-specific MeSH terms per article was 0.9 (SD = 1.2). A total of 3490 (52.4%) of the 6661 articles were indexed in pharmacy journals without a single pharmacy-specific MeSH. Of the total 67193 MeSH terms assigned to articles, on average 10.5% (SD = 13.9) were pharmacy-specific MeSH. A statistically significant different pattern of pharmacy-specific MeSH assignment was identified across journals (Kruskal-Wallis P journals can be improved to further enhance evidence gathering in pharmacy. Over half of the articles published in the top-10 journals publishing pharmacy literature were indexed without a single pharmacy-specific MeSH. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Comparative analysis of histopathologic effects of synthetic meshes based on material, weight, and pore size in mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Orenstein, Sean B; Saberski, Ean R; Kreutzer, Donald L; Novitsky, Yuri W

2012-08-01

While synthetic prosthetics have essentially become mandatory for hernia repair, mesh-induced chronic inflammation and scarring can lead to chronic pain and limited mobility. Mesh propensity to induce such adverse effects is likely related to the prosthetic's material, weight, and/or pore size. We aimed to compare histopathologic responses to various synthetic meshes after short- and long-term implantations in mice. Samples of macroporous polyester (Parietex [PX]), heavyweight microporous polypropylene (Trelex[TX]), midweight microporous polypropylene (ProLite[PL]), lightweight macroporous polypropylene (Ultrapro[UP]), and expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (DualMesh[DM]) were implanted subcutaneously in mice. Four and 12 wk post-implantation, meshes were assessed for inflammation, foreign body reaction (FBR), and fibrosis. All meshes induced varying levels of inflammatory responses. PX induced the greatest inflammatory response and marked FBR. DM induced moderate FBR and a strong fibrotic response with mesh encapsulation at 12 wk. UP and PL had the lowest FBR, however, UP induced a significant chronic inflammatory response. Although inflammation decreased slightly for TX, marked FBR was present throughout the study. Of the three polypropylene meshes, fibrosis was greatest for TX and slightly reduced for PL and UP. For UP and PL, there was limited fibrosis within each mesh pore. Polyester mesh induced the greatest FBR and lasting chronic inflammatory response. Likewise, marked fibrosis and encapsulation was seen surrounding ePTFE. Heavier polypropylene meshes displayed greater early and persistent fibrosis; the reduced-weight polypropylene meshes were associated with the least amount of fibrosis. Mesh pore size was inversely proportional to bridging fibrosis. Moreover, reduced-weight polypropylene meshes demonstrated the smallest FBR throughout the study. Overall, we demonstrated that macroporous, reduced-weight polypropylene mesh exhibited the highest degree of

Element Partition Trees For H-Refined Meshes to Optimize Direct Solver Performance. Part I: Dynamic Programming

KAUST Repository

AbouEisha, Hassan M.

2017-07-13

We consider a class of two-and three-dimensional h-refined meshes generated by an adaptive finite element method. We introduce an element partition tree, which controls the execution of the multi-frontal solver algorithm over these refined grids. We propose and study algorithms with polynomial computational cost for the optimization of these element partition trees. The trees provide an ordering for the elimination of unknowns. The algorithms automatically optimize the element partition trees using extensions of dynamic programming. The construction of the trees by the dynamic programming approach is expensive. These generated trees cannot be used in practice, but rather utilized as a learning tool to propose fast heuristic algorithms. In this first part of our paper we focus on the dynamic programming approach, and draw a sketch of the heuristic algorithm. The second part will be devoted to a more detailed analysis of the heuristic algorithm extended for the case of hp-adaptive

Element Partition Trees For H-Refined Meshes to Optimize Direct Solver Performance. Part I: Dynamic Programming

KAUST Repository

AbouEisha, Hassan M.; Calo, Victor Manuel; Jopek, Konrad; Moshkov, Mikhail; Paszyńka, Anna; Paszyński, Maciej; Skotniczny, Marcin

2017-01-01

We consider a class of two-and three-dimensional h-refined meshes generated by an adaptive finite element method. We introduce an element partition tree, which controls the execution of the multi-frontal solver algorithm over these refined grids. We propose and study algorithms with polynomial computational cost for the optimization of these element partition trees. The trees provide an ordering for the elimination of unknowns. The algorithms automatically optimize the element partition trees using extensions of dynamic programming. The construction of the trees by the dynamic programming approach is expensive. These generated trees cannot be used in practice, but rather utilized as a learning tool to propose fast heuristic algorithms. In this first part of our paper we focus on the dynamic programming approach, and draw a sketch of the heuristic algorithm. The second part will be devoted to a more detailed analysis of the heuristic algorithm extended for the case of hp-adaptive

Split thickness skin graft meshing ratio indications and common practices.

Science.gov (United States)

Pripotnev, Stahs; Papp, Anthony

2017-12-01

Split thickness skin grafting is a commonly used technique in burn surgery for resurfacing wounds that are unlikely to heal without scarring. Meshing and expanding skin grafts allow for reconstruction of larger wounds with smaller donor sites. A retrospective chart review was performed of 210 patients with burns equal to or greater than 20% total body surface area admitted to Vancouver General Hospital between 1998 and 2014. Charts were reviewed to collect data on patient and burn demographics. A survey was sent to Canadian plastic surgeons registered with the CSPS to collect data on common practices in burn surgery nationwide. The patients that received 3:1 or higher meshed grafts were all flame burns, had a significantly higher average TBSA (51.89%±14.87 vs 29.13%±9.48, p=0.001), and a significantly higher full thickness burn TBSA (25.76%±21.97 vs 6.20%±9.04, p=0.001). We found no significant differences in gender, age, or burn location between the less than 2:1 and 3:1 or greater meshing ratio groups. The survey of plastic surgeons performing burn surgery in Canada revealed that 60% of responders had experience with skin grafts using meshing ratios of 3:1 or higher. Of these surgeons, 100% felt that burn size and 36% felt that burn location would influence their decision to use a 3:1 or higher meshing ratio. A larger burn size is the major influencing factor for the use of higher skin graft meshing ratios by Canadian burn surgeons. Furthermore, burn location determines the choice of donor and recipient sites in these cases. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.

Local multiplicative Schwarz algorithms for convection-diffusion equations

Science.gov (United States)

Cai, Xiao-Chuan; Sarkis, Marcus

1995-01-01

We develop a new class of overlapping Schwarz type algorithms for solving scalar convection-diffusion equations discretized by finite element or finite difference methods. The preconditioners consist of two components, namely, the usual two-level additive Schwarz preconditioner and the sum of some quadratic terms constructed by using products of ordered neighboring subdomain preconditioners. The ordering of the subdomain preconditioners is determined by considering the direction of the flow. We prove that the algorithms are optimal in the sense that the convergence rates are independent of the mesh size, as well as the number of subdomains. We show by numerical examples that the new algorithms are less sensitive to the direction of the flow than either the classical multiplicative Schwarz algorithms, and converge faster than the additive Schwarz algorithms. Thus, the new algorithms are more suitable for fluid flow applications than the classical additive or multiplicative Schwarz algorithms.

Local multigrid mesh refinement in view of nuclear fuel 3D modelling in pressurised water reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barbie, L.

2013-01-01

The aim of this study is to improve the performances, in terms of memory space and computational time, of the current modelling of the Pellet-Cladding mechanical Interaction (PCI), complex phenomenon which may occurs during high power rises in pressurised water reactors. Among the mesh refinement methods - methods dedicated to efficiently treat local singularities - a local multi-grid approach was selected because it enables the use of a black-box solver while dealing few degrees of freedom at each level. The Local Defect Correction (LDC) method, well suited to a finite element discretization, was first analysed and checked in linear elasticity, on configurations resulting from the PCI, since its use in solid mechanics is little widespread. Various strategies concerning the implementation of the multilevel algorithm were also compared. Coupling the LDC method with the Zienkiewicz-Zhu a posteriori error estimator in order to automatically detect the zones to be refined, was then tested. Performances obtained on two-dimensional and three-dimensional cases are very satisfactory, since the algorithm proposed is more efficient than h-adaptive refinement methods. Lastly, the LDC algorithm was extended to nonlinear mechanics. Space/time refinement as well as transmission of the initial conditions during the re-meshing step were looked at. The first results obtained are encouraging and show the interest of using the LDC method for PCI modelling. (author) [fr

Outcome of transvaginal mesh and tape removed for pain only.

Science.gov (United States)

Hou, Jack C; Alhalabi, Feras; Lemack, Gary E; Zimmern, Philippe E

2014-09-01

Because there is reluctance to operate for pain, we evaluated midterm outcomes of vaginal mesh and synthetic suburethral tape removed for pain as the only indication. After receiving institutional review board approval we reviewed a prospective database of women without a neurogenic condition who underwent surgery for vaginal mesh or suburethral tape removal with a focus on pain as the single reason for removal and a minimum 6-month followup. The primary outcome was pain level assessed by a visual analog scale (range 0 to 10) at baseline and at each subsequent visit with the score at the last visit used for analysis. Parameters evaluated included demographics, mean time to presentation and type of mesh or tape inserted. From 2005 to 2013, 123 patients underwent surgical removal of mesh (69) and suburethral tape (54) with pain as the only indication. Mean followup was 35 months (range 6 to 59) in the tape group and 22 months (range 6 to 47) in the mesh group. The visual analog scale score decreased from a mean preoperative level of 7.9 to 0.9 postoperatively (p = 0.0014) in the mesh group and from 5.3 to 1.5 (p = 0.00074) in the tape group. Pain-free status, considered a score of 0, was achieved in 81% of tape and 67% of mesh cases, respectively. No statistically significant difference was found between the groups. When pain is the only indication for suburethral tape or vaginal mesh removal, a significant decrease in the pain score can be durably expected after removal in most patients at midterm followup. Copyright © 2014 American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Short term post-operative morphing of sacrocolpopexy mesh measured by magnetic resonance imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Sindhwani, Nikhil; Callewaert, Geertje; Deprest, Thomas; Housmans, Susanne; Van Beckevoort, Dirk; Deprest, Jan

2018-04-01

Sacrocolpopexy (SC) involves suspension of the vaginal vault or cervix to the sacrum using a mesh. Following insertion, the meshes have been observed to have undergone dimensional changes. To quantify dimensional changes of meshes following implantation and characterize their morphology in-vivo. 24 patients underwent SC using PolyVinyliDeneFluoride mesh loaded with Fe 3 O 4 particles. Tailored anterior and posterior mesh flaps were sutured to the respective vaginal walls, uniting at the apex. The posterior flap continued to the sacrum and was attached there. Meshes were visualized on magnetic resonance (MR) imaging at 12 [3-12] (median [range]) months postoperatively and 3D models of the mesh were generated. Dynamic MR sequences were acquired during valsalva to record mesh mobility. The area of the vagina effectively supported by the mesh (Effective Support Area (ESA)) was calculated. The 3D models' wall thickness map was analyzed to identify the locations of mesh folding. Intraclass correlation (ICC) was calculated to test the reliability of the methods. To measure the laxity and flatness of the mesh, the curvature and the ellipticity of the sacral flap were calculated. The ESA calculation methodology had ICC = 0.97. A reduction of 75.49 [61.55-78.67] % (median [IQR]) in area, 47.64 [38.07-59.81] % in anterior flap, and of 23.95 [10.96-27.21] % in the posterior flap was measured. The mesh appeared thicker near its attachment at the sacral promontory (n = 19) and near the vaginal apex (n = 22). The laxity of the mesh was 1.13 [1.10-1.16] and 60.55 [49.76-76.25] % of the sacral flap was flat. We could not reliably measure mesh mobility (ICC = 0.16). A methodology for complete 3D characterization of SC meshes using MR images was presented. After implantation, the supported area is much lower than what is prepared prior to implantation. We propose this happened during the surgery itself. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of mesenchymal stem cell and fibroblast coating on immunogenic potential of prosthetic meshes in vitro.

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Yue; Krpata, David M; Criss, Cory N; Liu, Lijia; Posielski, Natasza; Rosen, Michael J; Novitsky, Yuri W

2014-08-01

The aim of this study was to reveal the effect of fibroblast or mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) coating on the mesh-induced production of IL-1β, IL-6, and VEGF by macrophages. Four commonly used surgical meshes were tested in this study, including Parietex, SoftMesh, TIGR, and Strattice. One-square-centimeter pieces of each mesh were placed on top of a monolayer of human fibroblasts or rat MSCs. The coating status was monitored with a light microscope. The human promonocytic cell line U937 was induced to differentiate into macrophages (MΦ). Three weeks later, meshes were transferred to new 24-well plates and cocultured with the MΦs for 72 h. Culture medium was collected and analyzed for IL-1β, IL-6, and VEGF production using standard ELISA essays. Parallel mesh samples were fixed with paraformaldehyde or glutaraldehyde for histology or transmission electronic microscopy (TEM) analyses, respectively. Uncoated meshes induced increased production of all three cytokines compared with macrophages cultured alone. HF coating further increased the production of both IL-6 and VEGF but reduced IL-1β production. Except for the SoftMesh group, MSC coating significantly blunted release of all cytokines to levels even lower than with MΦs cultured alone. MΦs tended to deteriorate in the presence of MSCs. Both histology and TEM revealed intimate interactions between cell-coated meshes and MΦs. Cytokine response to fibroblast coating varied, while MSC coating blunted the immunogenic effect of both synthetic and biologic meshes in vitro. Cell coating appears to affect mesh biocompatibility and may become a key process in mesh evolution.

Monitoring and evaluation of wire mesh forming life

Science.gov (United States)

Enemuoh, Emmanuel U.; Zhao, Ping; Kadlec, Alec

2018-03-01

Forming tables are used with stainless steel wire mesh conveyor belts to produce variety of products. The forming tables will typically run continuously for several days, with some hours of scheduled downtime for maintenance, cleaning and part replacement after several weeks of operation. The wire mesh conveyor belts show large variation in their remaining life due to associated variations in their nominal thicknesses. Currently the industry is dependent on seasoned operators to determine the replacement time for the wire mesh formers. The drawback of this approach is inconsistency in judgements made by different operators and lack of data knowledge that can be used to develop decision making system that will be more consistent with wire mesh life prediction and replacement time. In this study, diagnostic measurements about the health of wire mesh former is investigated and developed. The wire mesh quality characteristics considered are thermal measurement, tension property, gage thickness, and wire mesh wear. The results show that real time thermal sensor and wear measurements would provide suitable data for the estimation of wire mesh failure, therefore, can be used as a diagnostic parameter for developing structural health monitoring (SHM) system for stainless steel wire mesh formers.

Dynamic mesh optimization based on the spring analogy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Schmidt Jonas

2014-01-01

Full Text Available We present an implementation of the spring analogy for three dimensional meshes in OpenFOAM. All parameters of the spring system are treated as fields that can either be pre-defined by the user, or updated at each time step according to specified geometrical regions or diffusion equations. The purpose of the method is to provide a pre-processing tool for mesh optimization. We study three simple test cases, a deformed block, an airfoil and a hill, and we analyze the evolution of skewness, non-orthogonality and aspect ratio during the approach of dynamic equilibrium.

Transvaginal mesh in repair of pelvic organs prolapse as a minimally invasive surgical procedure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Argirović Rajka

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Background/Aim. Prolapse of genital organs with or without urinary stress incontinention is the most often health problem in the elderly female population tending to increase with ageing. The aim of this study was to assess the perioperative complications and short-term outcomes of prolaps repair using transvaginal polypropylene mesh (Prolift system, Gynecare, Ethicon, USA. Methods. A retrospective study was conducted evaluating 96 women from September 2006 to January 2010 who undewent vaginal repair with implatation of a soft mesh manufactured by Gynecare, Ethicon, USA. Results. All the patients had a stage 3 or stage 4 prolapse according to the POP-Q system of ICS. Total mesh was used in 12 (13% patients isolated anterior mesh in 52 (54% patients and isolated posterior mesh in 32 (33% patients. We reported one intra-operative bladder injury and no other serious complications. At 3 months, all 96 patients were available for follow-up. Vaginal erosion occured in 9 (9.3% patients, shrinkage of mesh in 6 (6.2% patients and de novo urinary incontinence in 5 (5.2% patients. Failure rate was 6.25% (recurrent prolapse stage 3 or 4 even asymptomatic. Conclusion. Our study suggests that transvaginal polypropylene mesh applied with a tensionfree technique is a safe and effective method with low intraoperative complications and low morbidity rates. However, some complications are serious and require highly specialised management.

[Transvaginal mesh in repair of pelvic organs prolapse as a minimally invasive surgical procedure].

Science.gov (United States)

Argirović, Rajka; Berisavac, Milica; Likić-Ladević, Ivana; Kadija, Sasa; Bosković, Vladimir; Zizić, Vojislav

2011-07-01

Prolapse of genital organs with or without urinary stress incontinention is the most often health problem in the elderly female population tending to increase with ageing. The aim of this study was to assess the perioperative complications and short-term outcomes of prolaps repair using transvaginal polypropylene mesh (Prolift system, Gynecare, Ethicon, USA). A retrospective study was conducted evaluating 96 women from September 2006 to January 2010 who underwent vaginal repair with implatation of a soft mesh manufactured by Gynecare, Ethicon, USA. All the patients had a stage 3 or stage 4 prolapse according to the POP-Q system of ICS. Total mesh was used in 12 (13%) patients isolated anterior mesh in 52 (54%) patients and isolated posterior mesh in 32 (33%) patients. We reported one intra-operative bladder injury and no other serious complications. At 3 months, all 96 patients were available for follow-up. Vaginal erosion occured in 9 (9.3%) patients, shrinkage of mesh in 6 (6.2%) patients and de novo urinary incontinence in 5 (5.2%) patients. Failure rate was 6.25% (recurrent prolapse stage 3 or 4 even asymptomatic). Our study suggests that transvaginal polypropylene mesh applied with a tension-free technique is a safe and effective method with low intraoperative complications and low morbidity rates. However, some complications are serious and require highly specialised management.

Three new models for evaluation of standard involute spur gear mesh stiffness

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, Xihui; Zhang, Hongsheng; Zuo, Ming J.; Qin, Yong

2018-02-01

Time-varying mesh stiffness is one of the main internal excitation sources of gear dynamics. Accurate evaluation of gear mesh stiffness is crucial for gear dynamic analysis. This study is devoted to developing new models for spur gear mesh stiffness evaluation. Three models are proposed. The proposed model 1 can give very accurate mesh stiffness result but the gear bore surface must be assumed to be rigid. Enlighted by the proposed model 1, our research discovers that the angular deflection pattern of the gear bore surface of a pair of meshing gears under a constant torque basically follows a cosine curve. Based on this finding, two other models are proposed. The proposed model 2 evaluates gear mesh stiffness by using angular deflections at different circumferential angles of an end surface circle of the gear bore. The proposed model 3 requires using only the angular deflection at an arbitrary circumferential angle of an end surface circle of the gear bore but this model can only be used for a gear with the same tooth profile among all teeth. The proposed models are accurate in gear mesh stiffness evaluation and easy to use. Finite element analysis is used to validate the accuracy of the proposed models.

Performance of the hybrid wireless mesh protocol for wireless mesh networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boye, Magnus; Staalhagen, Lars

2010-01-01

Wireless mesh networks offer a new way of providing end-user access and deploying network infrastructure. Though mesh networks offer a price competitive solution to wired networks, they also come with a set of new challenges such as optimal path selection, channel utilization, and load balancing....... and proactive. Two scenarios of different node density are considered for both path selection modes. The results presented in this paper are based on a simulation model of the HWMP specification in the IEEE 802.11s draft 4.0 implemented in OPNET Modeler....

Fast and Exact Fiber Surfaces for Tetrahedral Meshes.

Science.gov (United States)

Klacansky, Pavol; Tierny, Julien; Carr, Hamish; Zhao Geng

2017-07-01

Isosurfaces are fundamental geometrical objects for the analysis and visualization of volumetric scalar fields. Recent work has generalized them to bivariate volumetric fields with fiber surfaces, the pre-image of polygons in range space. However, the existing algorithm for their computation is approximate, and is limited to closed polygons. Moreover, its runtime performance does not allow instantaneous updates of the fiber surfaces upon user edits of the polygons. Overall, these limitations prevent a reliable and interactive exploration of the space of fiber surfaces. This paper introduces the first algorithm for the exact computation of fiber surfaces in tetrahedral meshes. It assumes no restriction on the topology of the input polygon, handles degenerate cases and better captures sharp features induced by polygon bends. The algorithm also allows visualization of individual fibers on the output surface, better illustrating their relationship with data features in range space. To enable truly interactive exploration sessions, we further improve the runtime performance of this algorithm. In particular, we show that it is trivially parallelizable and that it scales nearly linearly with the number of cores. Further, we study acceleration data-structures both in geometrical domain and range space and we show how to generalize interval trees used in isosurface extraction to fiber surface extraction. Experiments demonstrate the superiority of our algorithm over previous work, both in terms of accuracy and running time, with up to two orders of magnitude speedups. This improvement enables interactive edits of range polygons with instantaneous updates of the fiber surface for exploration purpose. A VTK-based reference implementation is provided as additional material to reproduce our results.

A coarse-mesh nodal method-diffusive-mesh finite difference method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Joo, H.; Nichols, W.R.

1994-01-01

Modern nodal methods have been successfully used for conventional light water reactor core analyses where the homogenized, node average cross sections (XSs) and the flux discontinuity factors (DFs) based on equivalence theory can reliably predict core behavior. For other types of cores and other geometries characterized by tightly-coupled, heterogeneous core configurations, the intranodal flux shapes obtained from a homogenized nodal problem may not accurately portray steep flux gradients near fuel assembly interfaces or various reactivity control elements. This may require extreme values of DFs (either very large, very small, or even negative) to achieve a desired solution accuracy. Extreme values of DFs, however, can disrupt the convergence of the iterative methods used to solve for the node average fluxes, and can lead to a difficulty in interpolating adjacent DF values. Several attempts to remedy the problem have been made, but nothing has been satisfactory. A new coarse-mesh nodal scheme called the Diffusive-Mesh Finite Difference (DMFD) technique, as contrasted with the coarse-mesh finite difference (CMFD) technique, has been developed to resolve this problem. This new technique and the development of a few-group, multidimensional kinetics computer program are described in this paper

Numerical methods and analysis of the nonlinear Vlasov equation on unstructured meshes of phase space

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Besse, Nicolas

2003-01-01

This work is dedicated to the mathematical and numerical studies of the Vlasov equation on phase-space unstructured meshes. In the first part, new semi-Lagrangian methods are developed to solve the Vlasov equation on unstructured meshes of phase space. As the Vlasov equation describes multi-scale phenomena, we also propose original methods based on a wavelet multi-resolution analysis. The resulting algorithm leads to an adaptive mesh-refinement strategy. The new massively-parallel computers allow to use these methods with several phase-space dimensions. Particularly, these numerical schemes are applied to plasma physics and charged particle beams in the case of two-, three-, and four-dimensional Vlasov-Poisson systems. In the second part we prove the convergence and give error estimates for several numerical schemes applied to the Vlasov-Poisson system when strong and classical solutions are considered. First we show the convergence of a semi-Lagrangian scheme on an unstructured mesh of phase space, when the regularity hypotheses for the initial data are minimal. Then we demonstrate the convergence of classes of high-order semi-Lagrangian schemes in the framework of the regular classical solution. In order to reconstruct the distribution function, we consider symmetrical Lagrange polynomials, B-Splines and wavelets bases. Finally we prove the convergence of a semi-Lagrangian scheme with propagation of gradients yielding a high-order and stable reconstruction of the solution. (author) [fr

Image-Based Geometric Modeling and Mesh Generation

CERN Document Server

2013-01-01

As a new interdisciplinary research area, “image-based geometric modeling and mesh generation” integrates image processing, geometric modeling and mesh generation with finite element method (FEM) to solve problems in computational biomedicine, materials sciences and engineering. It is well known that FEM is currently well-developed and efficient, but mesh generation for complex geometries (e.g., the human body) still takes about 80% of the total analysis time and is the major obstacle to reduce the total computation time. It is mainly because none of the traditional approaches is sufficient to effectively construct finite element meshes for arbitrarily complicated domains, and generally a great deal of manual interaction is involved in mesh generation. This contributed volume, the first for such an interdisciplinary topic, collects the latest research by experts in this area. These papers cover a broad range of topics, including medical imaging, image alignment and segmentation, image-to-mesh conversion,...

Open reduction and internal fixation of osteoporotic acetabular fractures through the ilio-inguinal approach: use of buttress plates to control medial displacement of the quadrilateral surface.

Science.gov (United States)

Peter, Robin E

2015-01-01

The number of acetabular fractures in the geriatric population requiring open reduction and internal fixation is increasing. Fractures with medial or anterior displacement are the most frequent types, and via the ilio-inguinal approach buttress plates have proved helpful to maintain the quadrilateral surface or medial acetabular wall. Seven to ten hole 3.5 mm reconstruction plates may be used as buttress plates, placed underneath the usual pelvic brim plate. This retrospective study presents our results with this technique in 13 patients at a minimum follow-up of 12 months (average, 31 months). 85% of the patients had a good result. The early onset of post-traumatic osteoarthritis necessitated total hip arthroplasty in two patients (15%) at 12 and 18 months follow-up, respectively. This treatment option should be considered in the surgeon's armamentarium when fixing these challenging cases. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A prospective randomised trial comparing mesh types and fixation in totally extraperitoneal inguinal hernia repairs.

Science.gov (United States)

Cristaudo, Adam; Nayak, Arun; Martin, Sarah; Adib, Reza; Martin, Ian

2015-05-01

The totally extraperitoneal (TEP) approach for surgical repair of inguinal hernias has emerged as a popular technique. We conducted a prospective randomised trial to compare patient comfort scores using different mesh types and fixation using this technique. Over a 14 month period, 146 patients underwent 232 TEP inguinal hernia repairs. We compared the comfort scores of patients who underwent these procedures using different types of mesh and fixation. A non-absorbable 15 × 10 cm anatomical mesh fixed with absorbable tacks (Control group) was compared with either a non-absorbable 15 × 10 cm folding slit mesh with absorbable tacks (Group 2), a partially-absorbable 15 × 10 cm mesh with absorbable tacks (Group 3) or a non-absorbable 15 × 10 cm anatomical mesh fixed with 2 ml fibrin sealant (Group 4). Outcomes were compared at 1, 2, 4 and 12 weeks using the Carolina Comfort Scale (CCS) scores. At 1, 2, 4 and 12 weeks, the median global CCS scores were low for all treatment groups. Statistically significant differences were seen only for median CCS scores and subscores with the use of partially-absorbable mesh with absorbable tacks (Group 3) at weeks 2 and 4. However, these were no longer significant at week 12. In this study, the TEP inguinal hernia repair with minimal fixation results in low CCS scores. There were no statistical differences in CCS scores when comparing types of mesh, configuration of the mesh or fixation methods. Copyright © 2015 IJS Publishing Group Limited. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Coarse mesh and one-cell block inversion based diffusion synthetic acceleration

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Kang-Seog

DSA (Diffusion Synthetic Acceleration) has been developed to accelerate the SN transport iteration. We have developed solution techniques for the diffusion equations of FLBLD (Fully Lumped Bilinear Discontinuous), SCB (Simple Comer Balance) and UCB (Upstream Corner Balance) modified 4-step DSA in x-y geometry. Our first multi-level method includes a block Gauss-Seidel iteration for the discontinuous diffusion equation, uses the continuous diffusion equation derived from the asymptotic analysis, and avoids void cell calculation. We implemented this multi-level procedure and performed model problem calculations. The results showed that the FLBLD, SCB and UCB modified 4-step DSA schemes with this multi-level technique are unconditionally stable and rapidly convergent. We suggested a simplified multi-level technique for FLBLD, SCB and UCB modified 4-step DSA. This new procedure does not include iterations on the diffusion calculation or the residual calculation. Fourier analysis results showed that this new procedure was as rapidly convergent as conventional modified 4-step DSA. We developed new DSA procedures coupled with 1-CI (Cell Block Inversion) transport which can be easily parallelized. We showed that 1-CI based DSA schemes preceded by SI (Source Iteration) are efficient and rapidly convergent for LD (Linear Discontinuous) and LLD (Lumped Linear Discontinuous) in slab geometry and for BLD (Bilinear Discontinuous) and FLBLD in x-y geometry. For 1-CI based DSA without SI in slab geometry, the results showed that this procedure is very efficient and effective for all cases. We also showed that 1-CI based DSA in x-y geometry was not effective for thin mesh spacings, but is effective and rapidly convergent for intermediate and thick mesh spacings. We demonstrated that the diffusion equation discretized on a coarse mesh could be employed to accelerate the transport equation. Our results showed that coarse mesh DSA is unconditionally stable and is as rapidly convergent

Finite element modeling of the human kidney for probabilistic occupant models: Statistical shape analysis and mesh morphing.

Science.gov (United States)

Yates, Keegan M; Untaroiu, Costin D

2018-04-16

Statistical shape analysis was conducted on 15 pairs (left and right) of human kidneys. It was shown that the left and right kidney were significantly different in size and shape. In addition, several common modes of kidney variation were identified using statistical shape analysis. Semi-automatic mesh morphing techniques have been developed to efficiently create subject specific meshes from a template mesh with a similar geometry. Subject specific meshes as well as probabilistic kidney meshes were created from a template mesh. Mesh quality remained about the same as the template mesh while only taking a fraction of the time to create the mesh from scratch or morph with manually identified landmarks. This technique can help enhance the quality of information gathered from experimental testing with subject specific meshes as well as help to more efficiently predict injury by creating models with the mean shape as well as models at the extremes for each principal component. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dynamic Mesh Adaptation for Front Evolution Using Discontinuous Galerkin Based Weighted Condition Number Mesh Relaxation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Greene, Patrick T. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Schofield, Samuel P. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Nourgaliev, Robert [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

2016-06-21

A new mesh smoothing method designed to cluster mesh cells near a dynamically evolving interface is presented. The method is based on weighted condition number mesh relaxation with the weight function being computed from a level set representation of the interface. The weight function is expressed as a Taylor series based discontinuous Galerkin projection, which makes the computation of the derivatives of the weight function needed during the condition number optimization process a trivial matter. For cases when a level set is not available, a fast method for generating a low-order level set from discrete cell-centered elds, such as a volume fraction or index function, is provided. Results show that the low-order level set works equally well for the weight function as the actual level set. Meshes generated for a number of interface geometries are presented, including cases with multiple level sets. Dynamic cases for moving interfaces are presented to demonstrate the method's potential usefulness to arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) methods.

Robust and Blind 3D Mesh Watermarking in Spatial Domain Based on Faces Categorization and Sorting

Science.gov (United States)

Molaei, Amir Masoud; Ebrahimnezhad, Hossein; Sedaaghi, Mohammad Hossein

2016-06-01

In this paper, a 3D watermarking algorithm in spatial domain is presented with blind detection. In the proposed method, a negligible visual distortion is observed in host model. Initially, a preprocessing is applied on the 3D model to make it robust against geometric transformation attacks. Then, a number of triangle faces are determined as mark triangles using a novel systematic approach in which faces are categorized and sorted robustly. In order to enhance the capability of information retrieval by attacks, block watermarks are encoded using Reed-Solomon block error-correcting code before embedding into the mark triangles. Next, the encoded watermarks are embedded in spherical coordinates. The proposed method is robust against additive noise, mesh smoothing and quantization attacks. Also, it is stout next to geometric transformation, vertices and faces reordering attacks. Moreover, the proposed algorithm is designed so that it is robust against the cropping attack. Simulation results confirm that the watermarked models confront very low distortion if the control parameters are selected properly. Comparison with other methods demonstrates that the proposed method has good performance against the mesh smoothing attacks.

[CLINICAL EVALUATION OF THE NEW ANTISEPTIC MESHES].

Science.gov (United States)

Gogoladze, M; Kiladze, M; Chkhikvadze, T; Jiqia, D