Pyheart-lib: A Python Library For LS-DYNA Multi-Physics Heart Simulations

Physics-based computer simulations of the heart are gaining rising interest for optimizing the design of medical devices and for its treatment prediction and planning. LS-DYNA offers a powerful framework for modeling cardiac electrophysiology, mechanics, and fluid dynamics, as well as the coupling between the three physics. However, its wider adoption is hindered by several requirements among which: knowledge in cardiac function in health and pathology, expertise in numerical simulation, appropriate right modeling choices for the target application, availability of realistic heart geometries. In this paper, we present a free to use python package that allows for the generation of physiologically accurate heart models in an automatic and modular fashion. The architecture is organized in an abstract form that allows users to easily choose between the different physics, anatomical chambers of interest and parameters of interest and export the LS-DYNA keyword files ready for simulation. We also introduce the relevant heart modeling features that are available in LS-DYNA and present two exemplary models generated by the package: a full electrophysiology heart model and a bi-ventricular mechanical model.