Numerical Simulation of Fluid Membranes in Two-Dimensional Space

Numerical Simulation of Fluid Membranes in Two-Dimensional Space

Year:    2008

Communications in Computational Physics, Vol. 3 (2008), Iss. 4 : pp. 794–821

Abstract

The membrane's dynamics is very important for cells. A membrane in 2-dimensional space can be seen as an incompressible closed curve in a plane or a cylindrical surface in 3-dimensional space. In this paper, we design a second-order accurate numerical algorithm to simulate the shape transformation of the membrane. In the algorithm, we use the tangent angles to present the curve and avoid the difficulties from the constraint of curve's incompressible condition. A lot of interesting phenomena are obtained. Some of them are very like the life processes of cells, such as exocytosis and endocytosis. Furthermore, we can see the relation between two dynamic models clearly. At last, considering the influence of the inner incompressible fluids partially, we add a constraint: the area circled by the membrane maintain invariable. The numerical results show the dynamic motions of a curve remaining its local arc length and inner area constant.

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Journal Article Details

Publisher Name:    Global Science Press

Language:    English

DOI:    https://doi.org/2008-CiCP-7875

Communications in Computational Physics, Vol. 3 (2008), Iss. 4 : pp. 794–821

Published online:    2008-01

AMS Subject Headings:    Global Science Press

Copyright:    COPYRIGHT: © Global Science Press

Pages:    28

Keywords: