Automatic shape optimisation of pharmaceutical tablets using Partial Differential Equations

• We demonstrate a methodology for shape optimisation of tablets using the PDE method.
• We enable efficient parameterisation of geometries subject to physical constraints.
• We optimised cylindrical and spherical tablets subject to maximum tensile strength.

Pharmaceutical tablets have been the most dominant form for drug delivery and most of them are used in the oral administration of drugs. These tablets need to be strong enough so that they can tolerate external stresses. Hence, during the design process, it is important to produce tablets with maximum mechanical strength while conserving the properties of powder form components. The mechanical properties of these tablets are assessed by measuring the tensile strength, which is commonly measured using diametrical or axial compression tests.This work describes the parametric design and optimisation of solid pharmaceutical tablets in cylindrical and spherical shapes, which are obtained using a formulation based on the use of Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) for shape design. The PDE-based formulation is capable of parameterised complex shapes using the information from some boundary curves that describe the shape. It is shown that the optimal design of pharmaceutical tablets with a particular volume and maximum strength can be obtained using an automatic design optimisation which is performed by combining the PDE method and a standard method for numerical optimisation.