Section: Software

HeartLab

Participants : Matthieu Caruel, Dominique Chapelle, Alexandre Imperiale, Philippe Moireau [correspondant] .

The heartLab software is a library written in (64 bits compatible) Matlab and C (mex functions) designed to perform both simulation and estimation (based on various types of measurements, e.g. images) of the heart mechanical behavior. Started in 2006, it is already quite large (about 60,000 lines), and is used within the CardioSense3D community.

The code relies on OpenFEM for the finite element computations, and the implementation was performed with a particular concern for modularity, since modeling and estimation use the same finite element operators. This modularity also allows to couple the code with other FEM solvers, such as LifeV and Mistral developed in the Reo team-project. In particular, we are now able to include perfusion and electrical coupling with LifeV using PVM, and fluid-structure interaction using Mistral.

We also included geometric data and tools in the code to define heart anatomical models compatible with the simulation requirements in terms of mesh quality, fiber direction data defined within each element, and referencing necessary for handling boundary conditions and estimation, in particular. These geometries are analytical or come from computerized tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance (MR) image data of humans or animals.

We recently incorporated numerous non-linear data assimilation observation operators based on medical imaging post-processing to be able to now perform estimation with a large variety of medical imaging modalities.