Cardiac Mechanics Benchmark#

This folder contains the implementation of the benchmark problems for cardiac mechanics described in [LGA+15].

The benchmark suite consists of three problems of increasing complexity designed to verify the implementation of passive and active cardiac mechanics solvers.

Problems#

Problem 1: Deformation of a Beam#

Deflection of a beam made of anisotropic material under a pressure load. This problem tests the implementation of the transversely isotropic constitutive law (Guccione model [GMW91]) and the handling of Neumann boundary conditions (pressure).

Problem 2: Inflation of a Ventricle#

Inflation of an idealized Left Ventricle (truncated ellipsoid) made of isotropic material. This problem tests the handling of curvilinear geometries and large deformations under pressure loading.

Problem 3: Inflation and Active Contraction#

Inflation and active contraction of the idealized Left Ventricle with a spatially varying fiber architecture. This problem tests the coupling between the passive anisotropic material, the active stress model, and the fiber field definition.

References#

[GMW91]

Julius M Guccione, Andrew D McCulloch, and Lewis K Waldman. Passive material properties of intact ventricular myocardium determined from a cylindrical model. Journal of Biomechanical Engineering, 113(1):42–55, 1991. doi:10.1115/1.2894084.

[LGA+15]

Sander Land, Viatcheslav Gurev, Sander Arens, Christoph M Augustin, Lukas Baron, Robert Blake, Chris Bradley, Sebastian Castro, Andrew Crozier, Marco Favino, and others. Verification of cardiac mechanics software: benchmark problems and solutions for testing active and passive material behaviour. Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 471(2184):20150641, 2015. doi:10.1098/rspa.2015.0641.