Abstract: Man's interest in the function of the body and it's organs is very old. The heart has played a special role in this as can be seen by the many non physiological functions that have been and still are attributed to it.
From the beginnings of physiology with Da Vinci's anatomical studies till today, the function of the heart has been most intriguing. The number of mathematical and physical models that have been developed to describe the heart function are countless. The range is from very simple models like the Laplace equation for ventricular pressure and stress or the windkessel models that can describe the circulatory system to complex multiscale models that describe the electrophysiology, myocardial- or hemodymics to name a few.
With the advent of modern computer technology it has become feasible to tackle the more complex models that cannot be solved in an analytical fashion and develop virtual models for specific areas of interest within the wide field of heart function.
I will give an overview over recent developments in "Computational Cardiology" and present ideas and first results for a multi-scale/multi-physics model of the human heart.

Brief Biography of the Speaker:
Dr.-Ing. Torsten Schenkel obtained his diploma (Dipl.-Ing.) in mechanical engineering at the University of Karlsruhe in 1998, and the doctorate in the field of convection flows and instrumentation of microgravity experiments in 2002 from the same university.
He is presently lecturer for fluid mechanics and mathematical methods for flow simulations at the faculty of mechanical engineering in Karlsruhe.
His research interest are in the field of biofluidmechanics, especially heart flow, numerical simulation of complex turbulent flows, aero acoustics and turbulent heat transfer.
He currently is head of a research group for development of a numerical model for patient specific simulation of intraventricular flow, the Karlsruhe Heart Model KaHMo.
He has published over 20 research papers in conferences and journals and has reviewed articles for a number of scientific journals including Zeitschrift fur Medizinische Physik, Microgravity Science and Technology, Journal of Hydraulic Research, International Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids an Annals of Biomedical Engineering.