title: Immersed finite element method and its applications to biological systems.
abstract: This paper summarizes the newly developed immersed finite element method (IFEM) and its applications to the modeling of biological systems. This work was inspired by the pioneering work of Professor T.J.R. Hughes in solving fluid-structure interaction problems. In IFEM, a Lagrangian solid mesh moves on top of a background Eulerian fluid mesh which spans the entire computational domain. Hence, mesh generation is greatly simplified. Moreover, both fluid and solid domains are modeled with the finite element method and the continuity between the fluid and solid subdomains is enforced via the interpolation of the velocities and the distribution of the forces with the reproducing Kernel particle method (RKPM) delta function. The proposed method is used to study the fluid-structure interaction problems encountered in human cardiovascular systems. Currently, the heart modeling is being constructed and the deployment process of an angioplasty stent has been simulated. Some preliminary results on monocyte and platelet deposition are presented. Blood rheology, in particular, the shear-rate dependent de-aggregation of red blood cell (RBC) clusters and the transport of deformable cells, are modeled. Furthermore, IFEM is combined with electrokinetics to study the mechanisms of nano/bio filament assembly for the understanding of cell motility.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2145 Sheridan Road, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, United States.
authors.forename: Wing Kam
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yaling
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Farrell
authors.forename: Lucy
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: X Sheldon
authors.initials: XS
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yoshio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fukui
authors.forename: Neelesh
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Patankar
authors.forename: Yongjie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Chandrajit
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bajaj
authors.forename: Junghoon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Juhee
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Xinyu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Huayi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hsu