Applications of level set methods in computational biophysics

Emmanuel Maitre (1) , Thomas Milcent (1) , Georges-Henri Cottet (1) , Annie Raoult (2) , Yves Usson (3)

1 LJK - Laboratoire Jean Kuntzmann
2 MAP5 - UMR 8145 - Mathématiques Appliquées Paris 5
3 TIMC-IMAG - Techniques de l'Ingénierie Médicale et de la Complexité - Informatique, Mathématiques et Applications, Grenoble - UMR 5525

We describe in this paper two applications of Eulerian level set methods to fluid-structure problems arising in biophysics. The first one is concerned with three-dimensional equilibrium shapes of phospholipidic vesicles. This is a complex problem which can be recast as the minimization of the curvature energy of an immersed elastic membrane, under a constant area constraint. The second deals with isolated cardiomyocyte contraction. This problem corresponds to a generic incompressible fluid-structure coupling between an elastic body and a fluid. By the choice of these two quite different situations, we aim to bring evidences that Eulerian methods provide efficient and flexible computational tools in biophysics applications.

Mots clés: level set methods; fluid structure interaction; biological vesicles; cell dynamics

Domaines: Analyse numérique [math.NA]

Emmanuel Maitre, Thomas Milcent, Georges-Henri Cottet, Annie Raoult, Yves Usson. Applications of level set methods in computational biophysics. 2007. ⟨hal-00177593v1⟩