Background
High-frequency electricity is used in a majority of surgical interventions. However, modern computer-based training and simulation systems rely on physically unrealistic models that fail to capture the interplay of the electrical, mechanical and thermal properties of biological tissue.
Methods
We present a real-time and physically realistic simulation of electrosurgery, by modeling the electrical, thermal and mechanical properties as three iteratively solved finite element models. To provide sub-finite-element graphical rendering of vaporized tissue, a dual mesh dynamic triangulation algorithm based on isotherms is proposed. The block compressed row storage (BCRS) structure is shown to be critical in allowing computationally efficient changes in the tissue topology due to vaporization.
Results
We have demonstrated our physics based electrosurgery cutting algorithm through various examples. Our matrix manipulation algorithms designed for topology changes have shown low computational cost.
Conclusions
Our simulator offers substantially greater physical fidelity compared to previous simulators that use simple geometry-based heat characterization.
Six concrete beam-column frame sub-assemblages reinforced with basalt fiber-reinforced polymer (BFRP) bars in the frame beams were designed to investigate the collapse resistance after a middle column removal. Effect of parameters, including span to depth ratio of frame beams, prestressing, as well as material types of stirrups in the beams, on the collapse resistance of the sub-assemblages, was investigated. Experimental results showed that the initial stiffness of the frame beams was apparently lower due to low elastic modulus of BFRP bars. The collapse resistance of the sub-assemblages presented wave-like increasing tendency with the vertical displacement of the failed middle column, and it mainly attributed to the cracking or crushing of concrete and rupture of BFRP bars in the frame beams. Top longitudinal BFRP bars at the beam ends near to the side column (BESCs) and bottom longitudinal BFRP bars at the beam ends near to the middle column (BEMCs) kept tensile during the loading process, which played an important role in resisting structural collapse. Adjacent structural members such as frame beams and columns could provide horizontal reaction forces to constrain the free deformation of the residual sub-assemblages after the middle column failed, and it was beneficial to mitigate the structural collapse risk. The vertical deformation of the frame beams was nearly linear and proportional to the vertical displacement of the failed middle column. Finally, the dynamic increase factor (DIF) of collapse load was discussed using energy conservation method, and a calculation method of DIF for prestressed concrete frame structures was developed. It was suggested that the DIF values for the non-prestressed frame structures reinforced with BFRP bars in the beams should be taken as 2.0, while those for the prestressed sub-assemblages can be taken between 1.44 and 2.0.
This study demonstrated a new VEST educational module. Consistently high Likert assessment scores showed that users felt that the VEST module helped their understanding of dispersive electrode placement. Additionally, the study reflected a potential knowledge deficit in the safe use of dispersive electrodes in the surgical community, also demonstrating that even some exposure to the FUSE curriculum developed by SAGES provides increased awareness about dispersive electrode use.
A multi-physics model has been developed to investigate the effects of cellular level mechanisms on the electro-thermo-mechanical response of hydrated soft tissues with radiofrequency (RF) activation. A micromechanical model generates an equation of state (EOS) that provides the additional pressure arising from evaporation of intra- and extracellular water as well as temperature to the continuum level thermo-mechanical model. A level set method is used to capture the interfacial evolution of tissue damage with the level set evolution equation derived from the second law of thermodynamics, which is consistent with Griffith’s fracture evolution criterion. The discretized equations are solved simultaneously using a Krylov subspace based iterative solver (GMRES) with block preconditioning that effectively deflates the spectrum of the system matrix, resulting in exponential convergence of the Arnoldi iterations. Example problems, including experimental validation, illustrate the computational accuracy and efficiency of the technique.
Accidental loads such as explosion and vehicle impact could lead to failure of one or several load-bearing members in the structures, which is likely to trigger disproportionate progressive collapse of overall structures. Prestressed concrete (PC) frame structures are usually at great risk of collapse once load-bearing members fail, because the members in PC frame structures are usually subjected to much more load than those in common reinforced concrete (RC) frame structures. To investigate the progressive collapse behaviors of PC frame structures, five one-fourth reduced scaled frame substructures were fabricated and collapse tests were conducted on them. Influence of span-to-depth ratios of frame beams and prestress action modes on the collapse performance of PC frame structures was discussed. Experimental results indicated that PC frame substructures with different prestress action modes, including bonded prestress and unbonded prestress, presented different collapse resistance capabilities and deformability. Tensile force increment of the unbonded prestressing strands almost linearly increased with the vertical displacement of the failed middle column. Catenary action is one of the most important mechanisms in resisting structural collapse. Prestressing strands and longitudinal reinforcing bars in the frame beams benefited the formation and maintaining of catenary action. The ultimate deformability of the PC frame structures was tightly connected with the fracture of prestressing strand. In addition, a calculation method of dynamic increase factors (DIFs) suitable for PC frame structures was developed, which can be used to revise the design collapse load when static collapse analysis is conducted by the alternative path method. The DIFs of the five substructures were discussed on the basis of the proposed method; it revealed that the DIFs corresponding to the first peak loads and the ultimate failure loads for the PC frame substructures were less than 1.49 and 1.83, respectively.
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