Performance Analysis of Semi-refined Digital Forearm Modeling and Simplified Forearm Model in Electromagnetic Simulation

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study is to analyze the performance difference between simplified and digital models based on medical images. Methods: According to the characteristics of human anatomy, the finite element simulation software COMSOL Multiphysics 5.5 was employed to construct a simplified arm model using cylinders and a digital arm model based on Chinese digital human regarding electroacupuncture therapy as an example. A comparative analysis was then performed considering three aspects: mesh number, potential distribution, and resource consumption. Results: Through analysis, the digital arm model based on Chinese digital human requires significantly more mesh cells than the simplified arm model in mesh generation. Meanwhile, because the digital arm model based on the Chinese digital human fully expresses the nonuniformity of the tissue distribution in a real human body, its signal distribution in its interior is also relatively scattered, and the coupling potential slightly differs at the electrode vertex with the smallest change. In addition, the digital arm model has much higher resource consumption and computer hardware resource requirements compared with the simplified arm model. Conclusion: As a result, the digital model based on the Chinese digital human can more fully express the tissue distribution and electrical signal characteristics of a real human body. However, due to its high computational requirements, appropriate simplification can be selected to improve the computational efficiency of the model in practical applications.