Multiphasic Finite Element Framework for Modeling Hydrated Mixtures With Multiple Neutral and Charged Solutes

Abstract

Computational tools are often needed to model the complex behavior of biological tissues and cells when they are represented as mixtures of multiple neutral or charged constituents. This study presents the formulation of a finite element modeling framework for describing multiphasic materials in the open-source finite element software febio.1 Multiphasic materials may consist of a charged porous solid matrix, a solvent, and any number of neutral or charged solutes. This formulation proposes novel approaches for addressing several challenges posed by the finite element analysis of such complex materials: The exclusion of solutes from a fraction of the pore space due to steric volume and short-range electrostatic effects is modeled by a solubility factor, whose dependence on solid matrix deformation and solute concentrations may be described by user-defined constitutive relations. These solute exclusion mechanisms combine with long-range electrostatic interactions into a partition coefficient for each solute whose value is dependent upon the evaluation of the electric potential from the electroneutrality condition. It is shown that this electroneutrality condition reduces to a polynomial equation with only one valid root for the electric potential, regardless of the number and valence of charged solutes in the mixture. The equation of charge conservation is enforced as a constraint within the equation of mass balance for each solute, producing a natural boundary condition for solute fluxes that facilitates the prescription of electric current density on a boundary. It is also shown that electrical grounding is necessary to produce numerical stability in analyses where all the boundaries of a multiphasic material are impermeable to ions. Several verification problems are presented that demonstrate the ability of the code to reproduce known or newly derived solutions: (1) the Kedem–Katchalsky model for osmotic loading of a cell; (2) Donnan osmotic swelling of a charged hydrated tissue; and (3) current flow in an electrolyte. Furthermore, the code is used to generate novel theoretical predictions of known experimental findings in biological tissues: (1) current-generated stress in articular cartilage and (2) the influence of salt cation charge number on the cartilage creep response. This generalized finite element framework for multiphasic materials makes it possible to model the mechanoelectrochemical behavior of biological tissues and cells and sets the stage for the future analysis of reactive mixtures to account for growth and remodeling.