Using Three-Dimensional Finite Element Models and Principles of Active Muscle Contraction to Analyse the Movement of the Tongue

This paper presents an anatomically-based three-dimensional computational model of the human tongue. It uses a large deformation finite element method that incorporates active contractile effects of the tongue’s muscles to simulate its movement. The model provides an anatomically-based framework, which is capable of simulating the tongue’s kinematics during speech production or normal mastication. This paper describes in particular, the processes of creating a Finite Element volume mesh, the procedure of fitting the tongue’s muscle fibres, and the development of a constitutive description, which mimics physiological properties of passive and active muscle mechanics by adding active contractile stress. Furthermore, it investigates the effects of activating different muscle groups, in particular the effects of the interdependency between muscle pairs, and their overall contribution to the complex deformation patterns of the tongue. 1