BACKGROUND

Mathematical and Computer modelling of mass transport are standard tools in many engineering disciplines. They are however not as successfully used in questions regarding mass transport in soft biomaterials. The main reason is the large degree of material heterogeneity and with that the difficulty to use mathematics in a quantitative way without using average or mean field models. Computer modelling however foreseen to increase also in soft biomaterials. Recently, due to hardware breakthrough, the computational time has been decreased substantially making computer modelling of mass transport possible even in highly complex 3-dimensional structures and geometries.
 
RESEARCH QUESTIONS

In this module we use Mathematical and computer modelling to study 3-dimensional flow and diffusion through biomaterials with nanometer to micrometer structures. This module will work very closely with module 1 in which the material structures are characterized by electron-beam techniques. The main goal is to find the intrinsic mass transport – microstructure relationships. The results are subsequently compared with experimental data from module 3. The goal is a tool box simulating both diffusion and flow in soft biomaterials with very complex structures taking surface interactions into account. We also plan to investigate self-assembly processes with the aim to predict the relationship between molecular properties of biomaterials and their supramolecular assemblies.