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Efficient solution methods for modelling slowly evolving mechanical phenomena in cells and tissues using the discrete element method
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Efficient solution methods for modelling slowly evolving mechanical phenomena in cells and tissues using the discrete element method

G.R. Joldes, D.W. Smith and B.S. Gardiner
Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements, Vol.100, pp.175-184
2018
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Abstract

Cells and tissues exhibit complex mechanical behaviour, including large deformations, migration, growth, cell proliferation and death, as well as changes in behaviour due to external factors (e.g. chemical signals). The discrete element method is well suited for modelling such complicated behaviour, but computational efficiency is difficult to achieve due to the large number of particles needed for discretisation. Most of the mechanical behaviour of cells and tissues takes place slowly enough that it can be considered a quasi-static process. Taking this into account, we developed very efficient algorithms which ensure solution convergence and greatly reduce the computation time; these include an efficient neighbour search algorithm, explicit time integration with dynamic relaxation and stability control using mass scaling. In this paper we describe these algorithms and evaluate their performance using several numerical experiments. We demonstrate how some complex phenomena (constant tension membrane, growth, tissue degradation) can be easily modelled using the proposed methods.

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Citation topics
9 Mathematics
9.162 Numerical Methods
9.162.1864 Cancer Modeling
Web Of Science research areas
Engineering, Multidisciplinary
Mathematics, Interdisciplinary Applications
ESI research areas
Engineering
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