Numerical simulations rely on constructing accurate and detailed models to produce reliable results - a task that is often challenging. This task becomes notably more difficult when the model is of the human brain, the most complex organ of the human body. We create an anatomically comprehensive hexahedral mesh of the human brain using an open-source digital brain atlas from the Open Anatomy Project. This atlas currently includes over three hundred labelled anatomical structures of the brain and represents over two decades of development. It is a valuable tool currently used by medical professionals, medical students, and researchers for gathering, presenting, and discovering knowledge about the human brain. We demonstrate that this atlas can be used to efficiently create a detailed hexahedral finite element mesh of the brain for scientific computing. The two-way correspondence between the mesh and the atlas facilitates the construction of computational models and the communication and analysis of results. We present two case studies. The first case study constructs a biomechanical model of the brain to compute brain deformations and predict traumatic brain injury risk due to violent impact. In the second case study, we construct a bioelectric model of the brain to solve the electroencephalography (EEG) forward problem, a frequent simulation process used in electrophysiology to study electromagnetic fields generated by the nervous system. These techniques are often used to help understand the behavior and functionality of the brain or for treating neurological disorders such as epilepsy. We demonstrate efficient and accurate model construction using the meshed anatomical brain atlas, as well as emphasize the importance of effective communication and contextual analysis of results for enabling multi-disciplinary scientific computing research.

翻译：数值模拟依赖于构建精确且详细的模型以产生可靠结果——这一任务往往具有挑战性。当模型对象为人体最复杂器官——人脑时，该任务尤为困难。本研究利用开放解剖项目（Open Anatomy Project）的开源数字脑图谱，创建了一个解剖学上全面的人脑六面体网格。该图谱目前包含超过三百个标记的脑解剖结构，凝聚了逾二十年的开发成果，是医学专业人员、医学生及研究人员用于收集、呈现和探索人脑知识的重要工具。我们证明该图谱可用于高效创建适用于科学计算的精细六面体有限元脑网格。网格与图谱间的双向对应关系促进了计算模型的构建以及结果的交流与分析。本文呈现两项案例研究：第一项案例构建了脑生物力学模型，用于计算脑变形并预测暴力冲击导致的创伤性脑损伤风险；第二项案例构建了脑生物电模型，以求解脑电图（EEG）正问题——这是电生理学中研究神经系统产生电磁场的常用模拟过程。此类技术常被用于理解脑部行为与功能，或治疗癫痫等神经系统疾病。我们展示了利用网格化解剖脑图谱实现高效精确模型构建的方法，并强调了结果的有效交流与情境分析对于推动跨学科科学计算研究的重要性。