Analysis of a golf ball hitting the eye

Purpose of the Study
Computer models of the human eye were constructed for the purposes of studying interactions with foreign bodies.

• Based on in vivo patient data
• Multi-part model
• Mixed volumetric and surface meshes
• Automated generation of contact surfaces

Scan and Segmentation in ScanIP
High resolution in vivo MRI scans of a 29 year old Caucasian female was obtained using both a surface and a head coil on a Philips Gyroscan 1.5 Tesla imager. The following structures were segmented from the 3D data set by a Physician: the globe and optic nerve, the bony orbit, the eyelids and facial soft tissues, the extra-ocular muscles.

Mesh Generation in +ScanFE
A number of finite element models were generated based on the segmented image data. Each structure was meshed with mixed hexahedral and tetrahedral elements. The contact surfaces are particularly robust as the master and slave contact faces are paired - contact structures were exported as volumetric meshes and as surface meshes as required. For this application, the bony orbit was modelled as a rigid structure defined by surface shell elements rather than as a volumetric mesh thereby providing some computational saving.

FE Analysis in LS-DYNA
An analysis of a golf ball hitting the eye was carried out to demonstrate the robustness of the model for simulation purposes, as well as to demonstrate the remarkable sophistication of biological models which can now be generated based on in vivo data. This case study was developed in collaboration with Naomi Green at ARUP, Solihull, UK.