Morfoelastic models for the contraction of burn injuries
Antonio Barion

Supervisor TU Delft: Fred Vermolen and Matthias Moeller

start of the project: January 2020

In June 2020 the Interim Thesis has appeared and a presentation has been given.

The Master project has been finished in November 2020 by the completion of the Masters Thesis and a final presentation has been given.

For working address etc. we refer to our alumnipage.

Summary of the master project:
Large burn injuries are often characterised by the occurrence of contractures, which can limit the mobility of the joints of a patient. Elastic models are able to predict stresses, strains and displacements, however, the occurrence of permanent strains and stresses are modelled by using morfoelastic formulations. In this project, we are interested in mathematical properties, such as (numerical) stability of the, in some cases, saddle point problem and in computational efficiency and reliability. Several approaches will be considered, such as Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian frameworks in the context of conventional finite-element methods, as well as the possibility to use Isogeometric Analysis, where we will deal with basis functions that exhibit high levels of smoothness and span the geometry of the time-evolving domain. The morfoelastic framework will be applicable to modelling permanent contractions, as well as growth problems such as tumor growth. The framework will also be integrated into agent-based formalisms where migrating cells exert pulling forces on their immediate environment.

Contact information: Kees Vuik

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