@Article{CiCP-7-994,
author = {S. Y. Wang, P. Q. Chen, K. M. Lim and B. C. Khoo},
title = {A BEM/FEM Coupling Approach for Fluid-Structure Interaction Simulation of Cell Motion},
journal = {Communications in Computational Physics},
year = {2010},
volume = {7},
number = {5},
pages = {994--1026},
abstract = {<p style="text-align: justify;">In this paper, accurate and efficient simulation of cell motion in a biological
fluid flow is investigated. The membrane of a moving cell is represented by a
thin shell composed of incompressible neo-Hookean elastic materials and the liquids
around the membrane are approximated as incompressible Newtonian flows with low
Reynolds numbers. The biofluid mechanics is approximated by the Stokes flow equations.
A low-order BEM model is developed for the two biological fluids coupled at
the membrane surface. The moving boundary problem in fluid mechanics can be effectively
solved using the BEM with a GMRES solver. The FEM model based on a flat
thin shell element is further developed to predict the membrane load due to the large
deformation of a moving cell. Computational efficiency is greatly improved due to
the one-dimensional reduction in the present BEM and FEM models. The BEM solver
for the biological fluids is coupled with the FEM solver for the cell membrane at the
membrane surface. The position of the membrane surface nodes is advanced in time by
using the classical fourth-order Runge-Kutta method. Numerical instability is avoided
by using a relatively small time step. Further numerical instabilities in the FEM solver
is alleviated by using various techniques. The present method is applied to the FSI
problems of cell motion in a cylindrical flow. Numerical examples can illustrate the
distinct accuracy, efficiency and robustness of the present method. Furthermore, the
importance of bending stiffness of a cell membrane for stable cell motion simulation is
emphasized. It is suggested that the present approach be an appealing alternative for
simulating the fluid-structure interaction of moving cells.</p>},
issn = {1991-7120},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.4208/cicp.2009.09.027},
url = {http://global-sci.org/intro/article_detail/cicp/7662.html}
}