Seminarium Instytutowego Seminarium Mechaniki im. W. Olszaka i A. Sawczuka Motion analysis in biomechanics prof. P. Niederer - gość ABioMed poniedziałek, 21 czerwca 2004, godz. 10:00, sala Aula (II p.)

Motion is an ubiquitous feature in biology, and the measurement, imaging, analysis and mathematical modeling of motion is a primary task in biomechanics. Given the multiphase composition of biological structures, fluid and solid motions including the interactions resulting thereof are likewise of importance.

Relevant biological motion phenomena extend over several orders of magnitude, viz., from whole-body motions down to motions occurring on a molecular scale. Experimental and theoretical procedures depend thereby essentially on the size and mechanical properties of the involved bodies as well as on the time duration of interest. Selected topics covered in the talk include

• Whole body motions: Orthopaedic motion analysis (masticatory system), rehabilitation (training of paraplegic patients), trauma research (whiplash analysis and prevention), high-speed image acquisition for motion analysis.
• Organ dynamics: Systolic and diastolic dynamics of the heart (cardiodynamics), contraction waves in the stomach, blunt kidney trauma, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as a method to register organ motions and deformations.
• Fluid motions, fluid-solid interactions: Controlled mandatory ventilation by high-frequency oscillation, arterial flow dynamics and transport (only shortly covered, see lecture on Intra- and Extravascular Flow Dynamics and Transport Processes).
• Cellular motility: Actin filament dynamics.

For the theoretical analysis, articulated rigid-body approximations are of use whenever deformation processes can be disregarded or treated with simplified models. This is the case, e.g., in human whole-body motion studies. Organ dynamics, in turn, require the application of concepts of continuum mechanics. Since most biomechanical problems are associated with an irregular geometry and nonlinear constitutive properties, numerical methods (mostly Finite Elements) are applied.