Efficient Computational Tool for RF-Induced Thermal Response

ABSTRACT: In this proposal we suggest a two pronged approach to obtaining fast and efficient solutions to whole-body thermal response of tissue to RF exposures. The first, is the application of high fidelity electromagnetics and heat transfer solvers using high performance computing tools and techniques to obtain fast individual solutions. A multiphysical CPU/GPU based unstructured mesh solver suite at HyPerComp named HDphysics will be used for this purpose. Transmission across different physical disciplines is facilitated by a single code approach, while a front end program to handle geometrical information is available. In the later part of phase-I and a potential future phase of this project, we seek to use reduced order modeling techniques and and an uncertainty based approach to cover a range of thermal outcomes across a wide range of geometries as well as RF exposure parameters. A software utility of this nature can address a long felt need in the community to make maximal use of high performance computing while at the same time cover a wide parameter space in a tractable manner. BENEFIT: In addition to serving the vital interests of the Air Force and DoD, the development proposed will be well suited for a number of commercial applications involving EM simulations. Some of these include patient-specific hyperthermia radiation treatment for cancer, study of long term radiation effects from cellular phones, the sensitivity of cellular phones to various positions in a metropolitan area, hazards from high power lines near residential areas, meeting the EMC specifications of high power microwave circuits, and modeling of waveguide problems. The advancements to be made in quickturnaround parallel processing using GPU/CPU clusters will significantly leverage any commercialization efforts.