<p>Image segmentation is the problem of partitioning an image into meaningful parts, often consisting of an object and background. As an important part of many imaging applications, e.g. face recognition, tracking of moving cars and people etc, it is of general interest to design robust and fast segmentation algorithms. However, it is well accepted that there is no general method for solving all segmentation problems. Instead, the algorithms have to be highly adapted to the application in order to achieve good performance. In this thesis, we will study segmentation methods for blood vessels in medical images. The need for accurate segmentation tools in medical applications is driven by the increased capacity of the imaging devices. Common modalities such as CT and MRI generate images which simply cannot be examined manually, due to high resolutions and a large number of image slices. Furthermore, it is very difficult to visualize complex structures in three-dimensional image volumes without cutting away large portions of, perhaps important, data. Tools, such as segmentation, can aid the medical staff in browsing through such large images by highlighting objects of particular importance. In addition, segmentation in particular can output models of organs, tumors, and other structures for further analysis, quantification or simulation.</p><p>We have divided the segmentation of blood vessels into two parts. First, we model the vessels as a collection of lines and edges (linear structures) and use filtering techniques to detect such structures in an image. Second, the output from this filtering is used as input for segmentation tools. Our contributions mainly lie in the design of a multi-scale filtering and integration scheme for de- tecting vessels of varying widths and the modification of optimization schemes for finding better segmentations than traditional methods do. We validate our ideas on synthetical images mimicking typical blood vessel structures, and show proof-of-concept results on real medical images.</p>

<p>The Particle Level set method is a successful extension to Level set methods to improve thevolume preservation in fluid simulations. This thesis will analyze how sparse volume data structures can be used to store both the signed distance function and the particles in order to improve access speed and memory efficiency. This Particle Level set implementation will be evaluated against Digital Domains current Particle Level set implementation. Different degrees of quantization will be used to implement particle representations with varying accuracy. These particles will be tested and both visual results and error measurments will be presented. The sparse volume data structures DB-Grid and Field3D will be evaluated in terms of speed and memory efficiency.</p>

<p>Locating and segmenting objects such as bones or internal organs is a common problem in medical imaging. Existing segmentation methods are often cumbersome to use for medical staff, since they require a close initial guess and a range of different parameters to be set appropriately. For this work, we present a two-stage segmentation framework which relies on an initial isosurface interactively extracted by topological analysis. The initial isosurface seldom provides a correct segmentation, so we refine the surface using an iterative level set method to better match the desired object boundary. We present applications and improvements to both the flexible isosurface interface and level set segmentation without edges.</p>

<p>We present a method for stable buildup of snow on surfaces of</p><p>arbitrary topology and geometric complexity. This is achieved by</p><p>tracing quantities of snow, so-called snow packages,</p><p>through a dynamic wind field. Dual compact level sets are used to</p><p>represent geometry as well as accumulated snow. The level sets</p><p>have also proven to be well suited for the internal boundaries for</p><p>our Navier-Stokes solver, which produces a wind field that changes</p><p>according to snow buildup. Our method is different from previous</p><p>work in that all the addition of snow is done by local operations,</p><p>avoiding computationally expensive global refinement procedures.</p><p>The main contribution of this work is a dual level set method for</p><p>particle interaction with level sets.</p>

In this thesis, we have developed a Subtructured Finite Element / eXtended Finite Element (S-FE/XFE) method. The S-FE/XFE method consists in decomposing the geometry into safe FE-domains and cracked XFE-domains, and solving the interface problem with the Finite Element Tearing and Interconnecting method (FETI).This method allows for handling complex crack configurations in 3D structures with common commercial FE software that do not feature the XFEM. The method is also extended to a mixed dimensional formulation, where the FE-domain is discretised with shell elements while the XFE-domain is modelled with three-dimensional solid elements. This is the so-called S-FE Shell/XFE 3D method. The mixed dimensional formulation is more convenient than a full XFE-3D formulation because it significantly reduces the computational cost and it is more accurate compared to a full shell model because it includes three-dimensional local features such as three-dimensional crack. The compatibility of the displacements through the interface is ensured using the Reissner-Mindlin equation. The method has been extensively validated towards both academic problems and semi-industrial benchmarks in order to demonstrate the benefits of this approach. Among them, the S-FE/XFE method is applied to a crack analysis in a section of a compressor drum of a turbofan engine. The results obtained with the S-FE/XFE method are compared with those obtained with a standard FE computation. Furthermore, two applications of the S-FE shell/XFE 3D approach are proposed. First the load carrying capacity of a section of stiffened panel containing a through-the-thickness crack is investigated (this is the one-bay crack configuration). Second, the ability of the method for handling small surface cracks in large finite element models is addressed by looking at a generic 'large pressure panel' presenting realistic crack configurations.

In the present study, a fifth-order weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) scheme was built for solving the surface-capturing level-set equation. Combined with the level-set equation, the three-dimensional Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations were employed for the prediction of nonlinear wave-interaction and wave-breaking phenomena over sloping beaches. In the level-set finite-analytic Navier-Stokes (FANS) method, the free surface is represented by the zero level-set function, and the flows are modeled as immiscible air-water two phase flows. The Navier-Stokes equations for air-water two phase flows are formulated in a moving curvilinear coordinate system and discretized by a 12-point finite-analytical scheme using the finite-analytic method on a multi-block over-set grid system. The Pressure Implicit with Splitting of Operators / Semi-Implicit Method for Pressure-Linked Equation Revised (PISO/SIMPLER) algorithm was used to determine the coupled velocity and pressure fields. The evolution of the level-set method was solved using the third-order total variation diminishing (TVD) Runge-Kutta method and fifth-order WENO scheme. The accuracy was confirmed by solving the Zalesak's problem. Two major subjects are discussed in the present study. First, to identify the WENO scheme as a more accurate scheme than the essentially non-oscillatory scheme (ENO), the characteristics of a nonlinear monochromatic wave were studied systematically and comparisons of wave profiles using the two schemes were conducted. To eliminate other factors that might produce wave profile fluctuation, different damping functions and grid densities were studied. To damp the reflection waves efficiently, we compared five damping functions. The free-surface elevation data collected from gauges distributed evenly in a numerical wave tank are analyzed to demonstrate the damping effect of the beach. Second, as a surface-tracking numerical method built on curvilinear coordinates, the level-set RANS model was tested for nonlinear bichromatic wave trains and breaking waves on a sloping beach with a complex free surface. As the wave breaks, the velocity of the fluid flow surface became more complex. Numerical modeling was performed to simulate the two-phase flow velocity and its corresponding surface and evolution when the wave passed over different sloping beaches. The breaking wave test showed that it is an efficient technique for accurately capturing the breaking wave free surface. To predict the breaking points, different wave heights and beach slopes are simulated. The results show that the dependency of wave shape and breaking characteristics to wave height and beach slope match the results provided by experiments.

Vibration control is inevitable in many fields, including mechanical and civil engineering. This matter becomes more crucial for lightweight systems, like those made of magnesium. One of the most commonly practiced methods in vibration control is to apply constrained layer damping (CLD) patches to the surface of a structure. In order to consider the weight efficiency of the structure, the best shape and locations of the patches should be determined to achieve the optimum vibration suppression with the lowest amount of damping patch. In most research work done so far, the shape of patches are assumed to be known and only their optimum locations are found. However, the shape of the patches plays an important role in vibration suppression that should be included in the overall optimization procedure. In this research, a novel topology optimization approach is proposed. This approach is capable of finding the optimum shape and locations of the patches simultaneously for a given surface area. In other words, the damping optimization will be formulated in the context of the level set technique, which is a numerical method used to track shapes and locations concurrently. Although level set technique offers several key benefits, its application especially in time-varying problems is somewhat cumbersome. To overcome this issue, a unique programming technique is suggested that utilizes MATLAB© and COMSOL© simultaneously. Different 2D structures will be considered and CLD patches will be optimally located on them to achieve the highest modal loss factor. Optimization will be performed while having different amount of damping patches to check the effectiveness of the technique. In all cases, certain constraints are imposed in order to make sure that the amount of damping material remains constant and equal to the starting value. Furthermore, different natural frequencies will be targeted in the damping optimization, and their effects will also be explained. The level set optimization technique will then be expanded to 3D structures, and a novel approach will be presented for defining an efficient 4D level set function to initialize the optimization process. Vibrations of a satellite dish will be optimally suppressed using CLD patches. Dependency of the optimum shape and location of patches to different parameters of the models such as natural frequencies and initial starting point will be examined. In another practical example, excessive vibrations of an automotive dash panel will be minimized by adding damping materials and their optimal distribution will be found. Finally, the accuracy of the proposed method will be experimentally confirmed through lab tests on a rectangular plate with nonsymmetrical boundary conditions. Different damping configurations, including the optimum one, will be tested. It will be shown that the optimum damping configuration found via level set technique possesses the highest loss factor and reveals the best vibration attenuation. The proposed level set topology optimization method shows high capability of determining the optimum damping set in structures. The effective coding method presented in this research will make it possible to easily extend this method to other physical problems such as image processing, heat transfer, magnetic fields, etc. Being interconnected, the physical part will be modeled in a finite element package like COMSOL and the optimization advances by means of Hamilton-Jacobi partial differential equation. Thus, the application of the proposed method is not confined to damping optimization and can be expanded to many engineering problems. In summary, this research: - offers general solution to 2D and 3D CLD applications and simultaneously finds the best shape and location of the patches for a given surface area (damping material); - extends the level set technique to concurrent shape and location optimization; - proposes a new numerical implementation to handle level set optimization problems in any complicated structure; - makes it possible to perform level set optimization in time dependent problems; - extends level set approach to higher order problems.

The level set method is a powerful way of tracking surfaces by defining the surface as a zero level set of a continuous function that is usually a signed distance function. The level set method is one of the best methods for simulating multi-phase flow because it can easily handle fast topological changes, as well as splitting and merging of fluids. In this thesis, a standard level set method was implemented in C++, using the finite element method library deal.II, to simulate incompressible two-phase flow on some benchmark problems. The results show a significant change of mass in the simulations, something that should not be allowed to happen when simulating incompressible fluids. The mass changes mainly occur in the reinitialization phase, where the level set function is rebuilt to look more like a signed distance function.

This thesis introduces geometric dynamic active contours in the context of visual tracking, augmenting geometric curve evolution with physically motivated dynamics. Adding additional state information to an evolving curve lifts the curve evolution problem to space dimensions larger than two and thus forbids the use of classical level set techniques. This thesis therefore develops and explores level set methods for problems of higher codimension, putting an emphasis on the vector distance function based approach. This formalism is very general, it is interesting in its own right and still a challenging topic. Two different implementations for geometric dynamic active contours are explored: the full level set approach as well as a simpler partial level set approach. The full level set approach results in full topological flexibility and can deal with curve intersections in the image plane. However, it is computationally expensive. On the other hand the partial level set approach gives up the topological flexibility (intersecting curves cannot be represented) for increased computational efficiency. Contours colliding with different dynamic information (e.g., objects crossing in the image plane) will be merged in the partial level set approach whereas they will correctly traverse each other in the full level set approach. Both implementations are illustrated on synthetic and real examples. Compared to the traditional static curve evolution case, fundamentally different evolution behaviors can be obtained by propagating additional information along with every point on a curve.

This project is to explore the manufacturing and processing of laser or electron beam, formed on the surface morphology after curing and processing parts, such as surfacefilled, depression, or the formation of ripples; These reactions will directly affect the surface heat treatment and welding quality of thefinished product This study to consider the mass, momentum and energy equations, the introduction of theinterface and boundary conditions to simulate the real process In order to promote quality stability, and a large amount of production capacity and reduce costs, we must understand the institutions of the reaction In this thesis, the phase field method (Phase-field method) (Two-phase flow) two-phase flow simulation of metal surface by a concentrated source of heat melt the transient heat flow behavior