Interactive blood simulation for virtual surgery based on smoothed particle hydrodynamics

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Müller, Matthias | Schirm, Simon | Teschner, Matthias^{; *}

Affiliations: Computer Graphics Laboratory, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

Correspondence: [*] Address for correspondence: Matthias Teschner, Computer Graphics Laboratory, ETH Zurich, Gloriastrasse 35, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland. Tel.: +41 1 632 7546; Fax: +41 1 632 1596; E-mail: teschner@inf.ethz.ch.

Abstract: In this paper, we propose an interactive method based on Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) to simulate blood as a fluid with free surfaces. While SPH was originally designed to simulate astronomical objects, we gear the method towards fluid simulation by deriving the force density fields directly from the Navier-Stokes equation and by adding a term to model surface tension effects. In contrast to Eulerian grid-based approaches, the particle-based approach makes mass conservation equations and convection terms dispensable which reduces the complexity of the simulation. In addition, the particles can directly be used to render the surface of the fluid. Our method can be used in interactive surgical training systems with models of up to 3000 particles.

DOI: 10.3233/THC-2004-12103

Journal: Technology and Health Care, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 25-31, 2004