A Multilevel Finite Element Approach to Study Pressure Ulcer Aetiology - Multiscale Computer Modeling in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering - page 292

6 Conclusion
This chapter gave a summary of two examples of multi-scale work, used in
pressure ulcer aetiology studies. The objective was to show in which cases a multi-
scale analysis is useful or indispensible. The first was aimed at studying how
heterogeneity in the cell shape and location in a muscle influences the damage
evolution. The second example was focussed on how stiffening of cells, after they
are damaged, influences the strain distribution in a muscle and further progress in
damage development.
Neither of the simulations involved a full multi-scale analysis, with a coupling
from both macro to micro and back again. In both cases it was not really necessary
to make a full-scale coupling and in this way simulations were much more cost
effective. However, a full-scale coupling is possible in the way as described in the
first sections. Because each RVE is based on the same FEM mesh many calcu-
lations in integration points can be run parallel and in Eindhoven we typically run
this kind of simulations on a cluster with 64 or 128 CPU's.
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