Simulating 2D tearing phenomena for interactive medical surgery simulators

This paper introduces a methodology to simulate a particular kind of the fracture phenomenon : the tearing one. The objective of the method is to provide realistic tearing simulations, occuring on 2D deformable objects, and working in real-time. This method can find applications in surgery simulators, where tearing human tissue is an important feature to provide. It can also be applied, in a more general scope, in virtual environment applications. The central idea in this scheme is to “separate” the physical simulation elements, instead of destroying or dividing them. This avoids the increase of physical elements that need to be simulated (which occurs when they are divided) and gives a more accurate simulation than when they are destroyed