arXiv subjects

Alfonso Caiazzo

Publications and source records attributed to Alfonso Caiazzo.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

LDDMM stochastic interpolants: an application to domain uncertainty quantification in hemodynamics

We introduce a novel conditional stochastic interpolant framework for generative modeling of three-dimensional shapes. The method builds on a recent LDDMM-based registration approach to learn the conditional drift between geometries. By leveraging the resulting pull-back and push-forward operators, we extend this formulation beyond standard Cartesian grids to complex shapes and random variables defined on distinct domains. We present an application in the context of cardiovascular simulations, where aortic shapes are generated from an initial cohort of patients. The conditioning variable is a latent geometric representation defined by a set of centerline points and the radii of the corresponding inscribed spheres. This methodology facilitates both data augmentation for three-dimensional biomedical shapes, and the generation of random perturbations of controlled magnitude for a given shape. These capabilities are essential for quantifying the impact of domain uncertainties arising from medical image segmentation on the estimation of relevant biomarkers.

stat.ML↗

arXiv2025

Mixed-dimensional modeling of vascular tissues with reduced Lagrange multipliers

This paper presents a numerical method for the simulation of multiscale materials composed of an elastic matrix and slender active inclusions. The setting is motivated by the modeling of vascularized tissues and by problems arising in the context of medical imaging techniques, where the estimation of effective (i.e., macroscale) material properties is affected by the presence of microscale structures and microscale dynamics, such as fluid flow in the vasculature. We propose a method where the background solid material and the active slender inclusions are discretized independently, imposing the required interface conditions via non-matching Lagrange multipliers. The intrinsic geometrical complexity of the resulting computational model is simplified by relying on a reduced Lagrange multiplier framework, where the functional space of the Lagrange multiplier is replaced by the tensor product between an infinite dimensional Sobolev space defined on a lower-dimensional characteristic set of co-dimension two, and a finite dimensional space defined on the cross-sections of the inclusions. In view of the coupling with one-dimensional blood flow models, we derive a non-standard boundary condition that enforces a local deformation on the solid-fluid boundary, and we present the details of its stability analysis in the continuous elasticity setting. The method is validated with different numerical examples in two and three dimensions, assessing its convergence properties and its potential for the in silico characterization of tissues samples.

math.NA↗

arXiv2025

A fast food-freezing temperature estimation framework using optimally located sensors

This article presents and assesses a framework for estimating temperature fields in real time for food-freezing applications, significantly reducing computational load while ensuring accurate temperature monitoring, which represents a promising technological tool for optimizing and controlling food engineering processes. The strategy is based on (i) a mathematical model of a convection-dominated problem coupling thermal convection and turbulence, and (ii) a least-squares approach for solving the inverse data assimilation problem, regularized by projecting the governing dynamics onto a reduced-order model (ROM). The unsteady freezing process considers a salmon slice in a freezer cabinet, modeled with temperature-dependent thermophysical properties. The forward problem is approximated using a third-order WENO finite volume solver, including an optimized second-order backward scheme for time discretization. We employ our data assimilation framework to reconstruct the temperature field based on a limited number of sensors and to estimate temperature distributions within frozen food. Sensor placement is optimized using a novel greedy algorithm, which maximizes the observability of the reduced-order dynamics for a fixed set of sensors. The proposed approach allows efficient extrapolation from external sensor measurements to the internal temperature of the food under realistic turbulent flow conditions, which is crucial for maintaining food quality.

math.NA↗

arXiv2025

Data assimilation performed with robust shape registration and graph neural networks: application to aortic coarctation

Image-based, patient-specific modelling of hemodynamics can improve diagnostic capabilities and provide complementary insights to better understand the hemodynamic treatment outcomes. However, computational fluid dynamics simulations remain relatively costly in a clinical context. Moreover, projection-based reduced-order models and purely data-driven surrogate models struggle due to the high variability of anatomical shapes in a population. A possible solution is shape registration: a reference template geometry is designed from a cohort of available geometries, which can then be diffeomorphically mapped onto it. This provides a natural encoding that can be exploited by machine learning architectures and, at the same time, a reference computational domain in which efficient dimension-reduction strategies can be performed. We compare state-of-the-art graph neural network models with recent data assimilation strategies for the prediction of physical quantities and clinically relevant biomarkers in the context of aortic coarctation.

math.NA↗

arXiv2024

Bias and Multiscale Correction Methods for Variational State Estimation

Data assimilation performance can be significantly impacted by biased noise in observations, altering the signal magnitude and introducing fast oscillations or discontinuities when the system lacks smoothness. To mitigate these issues, this paper employ variational state estimation using the so-called parametrized-background data-weak method. This approach relies on a background manifold parametrized by a set of constraints, enabling the state estimation by solving a minimization problem on a reduced-order background model, subject to constraints imposed by the input measurements. The proposed formulation incorporates a novel bias correction mechanism and a manifold decomposition that handles rapid oscillations by treating them as slow-decaying modes based on a two-scale splitting of the classical reconstruction algorithm. The method is validated in different examples, including the assimilation of biased synthetic data, discontinuous signals, and Doppler ultrasound data obtained from experimental measurements.

math.NA↗

arXiv2024

A stabilized total pressure-formulation of the Biot's poroelasticity equations in frequency domain: numerical analysis and applications

This work focuses on the numerical solution of the dynamics of a poroelastic material in the frequency domain. We provide a detailed stability analysis based on the application of the Fredholm alternative in the continuous case, considering a total pressure formulation of the Biot's equations. In the discrete setting, we propose a stabilized equal order finite element method complemented by an additional pressure stabilization to enhance the robustness of the numerical scheme with respect to the fluid permeability. Utilizing the Fredholm alternative, we extend the well-posedness results to the discrete setting, obtaining theoretical optimal convergence for the case of linear finite elements. We present different numerical experiments to validate the proposed method. First, we consider model problems with known analytic solutions in two and three dimensions. As next, we show that the method is robust for a wide range of permeabilities, including the case of discontinuous coefficients. Lastly, we show the application for the simulation of brain elastography on a realistic brain geometry obtained from medical imaging.

math.NA↗

arXiv2024

Stokes problem with slip boundary conditions using stabilized finite elements combined with Nitsche

We discuss how slip conditions for the Stokes equation can be handled using Nitsche method, for a stabilized finite element discretization. Emphasis is made on the interplay between stabilization and Nitsche terms. Well-posedness of the discrete problem and optimal convergence rates, in natural norm for the velocity and the pressure, are established, and illustrated with various numerical experiments. The proposed method fits naturally in the context of a finite element implementation while being accurate, and allows an increased flexibility in the choice of the finite element pairs.

math.NA↗

arXiv2023

Displacement and pressure reconstruction from magnetic resonance elastography images: application to an in silico brain model

Magnetic resonance elastography is a motion-sensitive image modality that allows to measure in vivo tissue displacement fields in response to mechanical excitations. This paper investigates a data assimilation approach for reconstructing tissue displacement and pressure fields in an in silico brain model from partial elastography data. The data assimilation is based on a parametrized-background data weak methodology, in which the state of the physical system -- tissue displacements and pressure fields -- is reconstructed from the available data assuming an underlying poroelastic biomechanics model. For this purpose, a physics-informed manifold is built by sampling the space of parameters describing the tissue model close to their physiological ranges to simulate the corresponding poroelastic problem, and computing a reduced basis via Proper Orthogonal Decomposition. Displacements and pressure reconstruction is sought in a reduced space after solving a minimization problem that encompasses both the structure of the reduced-order model and the available measurements. The proposed pipeline is validated using synthetic data obtained after simulating the poroelastic mechanics of a physiological brain. The numerical experiments demonstrate that the framework can exhibit accurate joint reconstructions of both displacement and pressure fields. The methodology can be formulated for an arbitrary resolution of available displacement data from pertinent images.

math.NA↗

arXiv2022

Impact of Turbulence Modeling on the Simulation of Blood Flow in Aortic Coarctation

Numerical simulations of pulsatile blood flow in an aortic coarctation require the use of turbulence modeling. This paper considers three models from the class of large eddy simulation (LES) models (Smagorinsky, Vreman, $\boldsymbolσ$-model) and one model from the class of variational multiscale models (residual-based) within a finite element framework. The influence of these models on the estimation of clinically relevant biomarkers used to assess the degree of severity of the pathological condition (pressure difference, secondary flow degree, normalized flow displacement, wall shear stress) is investigated in detail. The simulations show that most methods are consistent in terms of severity indicators such as pressure difference and stenotic velocity. The numerical results indicate that second order velocity elements outperform first order elements in terms of accuracy. Moreover, using second order velocity finite elements, different turbulence models might lead to considerably different results concerning other clinically relevant quantities such as wall shear stresses. These differences may be attributed to differences in numerical dissipation introduced by the turbulence models.

cs.CE↗

arXiv2020

Reconstruction of quasi-local numerical effective models from low-resolution measurements

We consider the inverse problem of reconstructing an effective model for a prototypical diffusion process in strongly heterogeneous media based on coarse measurements. The approach is motivated by quasi-local numerical effective forward models that are provably reliable beyond periodicity assumptions and scale separation. The goal of this work is to show that an identification of the matrix representation related to these effective models is possible. On the one hand, this provides a reasonable surrogate in cases where a direct reconstruction is unfeasible due to a mismatch between the coarse data scale and the microscopic quantities to be reconstructed. On the other hand, the approach allows us to investigate the requirement for a certain non-locality in the context of numerical homogenization. Algorithmic aspects of the inversion procedure and its performance are illustrated in a series of numerical experiments.

math.NA↗

arXiv2019

Multiscale modeling of vascularized tissues via non-matching immersed methods

We consider a multiscale approach based on immersed methods for the efficient computational modeling of tissues composed of an elastic matrix (in two or three-dimensions) and a thin vascular structure (treated as a co-dimension two manifold) at a given pressure. We derive different variational formulations of the coupled problem, in which the effect of the vasculature can be surrogated in the elasticity equations via singular or hyper-singular forcing terms. These terms only depend on information defined on co-dimension two manifolds (such as vessel center line, cross sectional area, and mean pressure over cross section), thus drastically reducing the complexity of the computational model. We perform several numerical tests, ranging from simple cases with known exact solutions to the modeling of materials with random distributions of vessels. In the latter case, we use our immersed method to perform an in silico characterization of the mechanical properties of the effective biphasic material tissue via statistical simulations.

math.NA↗

arXiv2017

ParMooN - a modernized program package based on mapped finite elements

{\sc ParMooN} is a program package for the numerical solution of elliptic and parabolic partial differential equations. It inherits the distinct features of its predecessor {\sc MooNMD} \cite{JM04}: strict decoupling of geometry and finite element spaces, implementation of mapped finite elements as their definition can be found in textbooks, and a geometric multigrid preconditioner with the option to use different finite element spaces on different levels of the multigrid hierarchy. After having presented some thoughts about in-house research codes, this paper focuses on aspects of the parallelization for a distributed memory environment, which is the main novelty of {\sc ParMooN}. Numerical studies, performed on compute servers, assess the efficiency of the parallelized geometric multigrid preconditioner in comparison with some parallel solvers that are available in the library {\sc PETSc}. The results of these studies give a first indication whether the cumbersome implementation of the parallelized geometric multigrid method was worthwhile or not.

math.NA↗