Block‐structured mesh generation from implicit geometries for cardiovascular applications

Generation of suitable meshes for patient-specific vascular domains remains a major obstacle in the context of numerical simulations relying on the finite element method, as well as many similar methods. Herein, we discuss a skeleton-based structured meshing approach, revolving around block-structures. We rely on an implicitly represented surface, either via a signed distance function, or a convolution surface. The mesh generation using the aforementioned concepts is performed through the proper utilisation of transfinite maps. Application-wise, we consider healthy blood vessels, and extensions required to tackle aortas afflicted by aortic dissection. The high quality of the resulting meshes is affirmed through common mesh quality metrics. Our approach features large flexibility in terms of spatial resolution, as well as mesh order.