Multi-scale simulation of plant tissue deformation using a model for individual cell mechanics

Area of Science:

• Computational mechanics
• Biophysics
• Plant science

Background:

• Simulating large elastic deformations in plant tissues is crucial for understanding growth and response to stimuli.
• Existing methods often struggle with computational cost and accuracy for complex cellular structures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an efficient and accurate multiscale simulation method for large elastic deformations of plant tissue.
• To integrate microscopic cell properties into a macroscopic finite element framework.

Main Methods:

• A micro-macro approach combining a mass-spring model for individual plant cells with finite element analysis for the macroscopic domain.
• Utilizing representative volume elements (RVEs) to compute macroscopic material properties from microscopic simulations.
• Employing virial stress and finite difference approximations for elasticity tensor estimation.

Main Results:

• The multiscale method accurately simulates large elastic deformations in plant tissue.
• Convergence to full microscopic simulation results was observed for various mesh refinement strategies.
• A significant speedup in computation was achieved compared to full microscopic simulations.

Conclusions:

• The proposed micro-macro method offers an efficient and accurate approach for simulating plant tissue mechanics.
• This method provides a robust framework for studying plant tissue behavior under large deformations.
• The integration of RVEs effectively bridges the gap between cellular and tissue-level mechanical properties.