Case Study: Ritsumeikan University achieves faster, more accurate foot-surgery simulations with Dassault Systèmes' Abaqus FEA

Ritsumeikan University - Customer Case Study

Ritsumeikan University researcher Dr. Wang Zhongkui was asked to develop patient-specific finite-element simulations to support surgical planning for flatfoot, but his existing FEA tools could not capture contact, friction and nonlinear tissue behavior—resulting in overly stiff joints and poor agreement with experimental pressure measurements. To meet this challenge he adopted Dassault Systemes' Abaqus FEA for its advanced biomechanics capabilities.

Dassault Systemes’ Abaqus provided nonlinear solvers, automatic meshing and fast pre/post‑processing for contact, deformation and stress, letting Dr. Wang model bones, ligaments (using truss or 3D solids) and nonlinear hyperelastic tissue more realistically. The new workflow cut setup-to-results time by roughly tenfold and produced plantar stress maps that more closely matched pressure‑platform experiments, enabling more accurate, faster patient‑specific surgical simulations, validation work and 3D‑printed prototypes.

Ritsumeikan University

Wang Zhongkui

University Researcher