A Dynamic Non-Manifold Mesh Data Structure to Represent Biological Materials

Computational models of biological materials enable researchers to gain insight and make testable predictions of quantitative dynamic responses to stimuli. These models are particularly challenging to develop because biological materials are (1) highly heterogeneous containing both biological cells and complex substances such as extra-cellular medium, (2) undergo structural rearrangement (3) couple biological cells with their environment via chemical and mechanical processes. Existing numerical approaches excel at either describing biological cells or solids and fluids, but have difficulty integrating them into a single simulation approach. We present a novel dynamic non-manifold mesh data structure that naturally represents biological materials with coupled chemical and mechanical processes and structural rearrangement in a unified way.