Real-time cutting method for soft tissue based on TLED algorithm

Surgery simulation system can provide a safe virtual training environment. Cutting of soft tissue plays a very important role in the system. During the operation, the soft tissue exhibits nonlinear property and topology change of the operated tissue usually causes the failure of the pre-computed quantity. The above reasons make the simulation of the real-time cutting a challenging task. This paper proposes a new cutting method, based on TLED nonlinear finite element algorithm which deals with real time simulation of deformation. The method combines virtual node algorithm and TLED algorithm, pre-computes related quantities on the element level and locally modifies topology of soft tissue after cutting, avoiding re-computation of pre-computed data. Experiments display its ability to simulate cutting of soft tissue with nonlinear property within real time.