Coupled hard-soft tissue simulation with contact and constraints applied to jaw-tongue-hyoid dynamics

Ian Stavness (1) , John Lloyd (1) , Yohan Payan (2) , Sidney Fels (1)

1 UBC - Human Communication Technologies Research Laboratory
2 TIMC-IMAG-GMCAO - Gestes Medico-chirurgicaux Assistés par Ordinateur

We present an open-source physical simulation system suitable for efficient modeling of anatomical structures composed of both hard and soft tissue components, interconnected by point-wise attachments, contact, and other constraints. Specific attention is paid to the computational formulation needed for the coupled simulation of rigid and deformable structures, and a constraint-based mechanism is described for attaching these together. As an application of this system, we then present a novel 3D dynamic model of the jaw-tongue-hyoid complex, consisting of an FEM model of the tongue, rigid jaw, and hyoid structures, point-to-point muscle actuators, and constraints for bite contact and the temporomandibular joints. Several simulations are presented showing combined jaw-tongue actions and demonstrating the effects of coupled jaw-tongue-hyoid dynamics.

Mots clés: biomechanical modeling; hard-soft tissue coupling; jaw; tongue; finite element method; interactive simulation

Domaines: Biomécanique [physics.med-ph]; Biomécanique [physics.med-ph]; Ingénierie biomédicale

Ian Stavness, John Lloyd, Yohan Payan, Sidney Fels. Coupled hard-soft tissue simulation with contact and constraints applied to jaw-tongue-hyoid dynamics. International Journal for Numerical Methods in Biomedical Engineering, 2011, 27, pp.367-390. ⟨10.1002/cnm.1423⟩. ⟨hal-00599050⟩