Comparison of conformal and nonconformal meshes in the electromagnetic simulation of atherosclerotic lesions

The complex impedance that would be measured by a four-point electrode on the intimal surface of type Va and Vb atherosclerotic lesions was simulated using two different electromagnetic software programs. One program used a nonconformal hexahedral mesh of 2.5 million elements to describe the lesion morphology, whereas the second program used a Conformal mesh of 320,000 elements. Even though the nonconformal mesh used more elements, the geometry of the lesion and electrodes was more accurately described by the Conformal mesh. The impedance of the lesions was calculated for the frequencies of 10⁵,10⁶,10⁷, and 10⁸ Hz. The simulated resistance and phase of the lesion for both the nonconformal and conformal mesh were very similar. The small difference in the results can be attributed to the more accurate modeling of the interface between the electrodes and the underlying layer.