Jeffrey Weiss, a University of Utah professor of biomedical engineering and faculty member in the Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute, and Gerard Ateshian, professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia University, received a $2 million grant to continue to improve Finite Elements for Biomechanics (FEBio), open-source software supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) since 2008.

Finite element (FE) analysis, a computer method for solving differential equations arising in engineering, has become an indispensable tool for research and discovery in the biomedical sciences. Historically, the lack of an open software environment tailored to the needs of biomechanics and biophysics hampered research progress, dissemination of research, and sharing of models and results. In 2007, Weiss began a collaboration with Ateshian to develop FEBio. The software employs mixture theory to account for the multi-constituent nature of biological tissues and fluids, unifying the classical fields of irreversible thermodynamics, solid mechanics, fluid mechanics, mass transport, chemical reactions, and electrokinetics.

Weiss and Ateshian started the project to help colleagues and their students in the biomechanics and biophysics research communities. “I often wondered whether the substantial effort required by the project was worthwhile, given that it often pulled me away from other more research-oriented projects.” Weiss said of FEBio’s early days. “Today, I’m very happy that we persisted.”

FEBio’s impact has far surpassed expectations, according to Weiss. It has 20,000 registered users and 100,000 downloads and counting. More than 840 publications have referenced FEBio and its primary publication has been cited 1,200 times. Development of FEBio Studio, the graphical user interface, has enabled the software to become a popular educational tool—35 professors around the world use FEBio in their teaching, including four courses in the U’s Department of Biomedical Engineering.

“I feel fortunate to have been able to dedicate part of my professional effort to this important project and I am deeply gratified to see the success it has enjoyed,” Weiss said. “It is very satisfying to open a journal issue and see studies that relied on our software for the science, or to hear how an instructor uses the FEBio software in their classroom teaching. I hope we can continue to support the FEBio project for many more years.”

Renewed by NIH for project years 17–20, the aims for the new funding period include the following:

1. developing a modeling framework for thermomechanics in solids, fluids, and mixtures;
2. incorporating experimental data to constrain finite element solutions;
3. modeling immersed solid, biphasic, or multiphasic bodies in fluid domains, accounting for fluid-structure interactions and resolving the fluid shear stress in boundary layers surrounding the body; and
4. facilitating software development by the user community. These new capabilities will expand the applicability of FEBio to new fields of biomedical research, further increasing the user base and facilitating scientific advancement.

A version of this article was originally published by the Department of Biomedical Engineering.