The Finite Element Method for the Design of Biomedical Devices

Abstract

Some of the design techniques available today are suitable for application in the biomedical field. Among these, the most interesting ones make use of the computer for drawing, simulating, and manufacturing, and are commonly called computer-aided engineering, or CAE. The finite element method (FEM) is often at the heart of these powerful methods and is treated in detail within this chapter.

The treatment of this subject in the present chapter will avoid the mathematical framework that constitutes the basis of FEM. The intention of the authors is to give a practical viewpoint on FEM; thus a sample problem will be used in order to describe both the sequence of operations needed in a FEM analysis and some of the fundamental issues that are involved. The sample problem has been chosen in a subject that is not too far from the interests of the readers. However, it must be pointed out that the treatment of this problem is functional only to the presentation of FEM; thus the problem is simplified in order to make FEM more clearly understandable, and consequently the results of the sample problem cannot be assumed to hold in a realistic setting.