Research: Numerical Methods in Nonlinear Elasticity, with applications to blood vessel simulations PI: Adrian Lew Presently I'm researching the use of a Discontinuous Garlerkin (DG) method for modeling static deformation of nonlinear materials. A key feature of this method is its promise to handle problems where strain localization and strain discontinuities occur. The long-term goal is to formulate DG methods for nonlinear elastic shells, such a deformable blood vessel under pulsatile flow.  Two key advantages are envisioned here: a) The C1-conformity requirement on displacements is gracefully avoided by an independent interpolation of strains and displacements, and b) Allowing for discontinuities of displacements across elements should enable the study of fragmentation of plaque on the blood vessel walls when, for instance, an angioplasty is performed.

E-mail: alabute@stanford.edu