A semi-automated finite difference mesh creation method for use with immersed boundary software IB2d and IBAMR

Area of Science:

• Computational fluid dynamics
• Biomedical engineering
• Scientific computing

Background:

• The immersed boundary method is valuable for fluid-structure interaction (FSI) problems with complex geometries.
• Traditional immersed boundary methods often struggle with discretizing intricate biological structures.
• Existing mesh generators are typically for finite element methods, not finite difference-based immersed boundary methods.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel software library for generating finite difference discretizations of boundaries.
• To facilitate the direct use of these discretizations in 2D immersed boundary method simulations.
• To simplify the modeling of complex biological morphologies in FSI studies.

Main Methods:

• Developed a software library to extract boundary mesh points from digital images.
• The library provides tools for creating finite difference discretizations suitable for the immersed boundary method.
• Utilized open-source immersed boundary software for validation.

Main Results:

• Successfully generated finite difference discretizations of complex boundaries from image data.
• Demonstrated the library's utility in simulating fluid flow through biological structures.
• Validated the approach using examples such as insect wings, lymphatic capillaries, and starfish.

Conclusions:

• The developed software library effectively addresses the challenge of discretizing complex geometries for the immersed boundary method.
• This tool enhances the capability to model biological fluid-structure interactions with intricate morphologies.
• The library supports the use of open-source simulation tools, promoting accessibility in biomechanical research.