A convenient geometrical description of the microvascular network is necessary for computationally efficient mathematical modelling of liver perfusion, metabolic and other physiological processes. The tissue models currently used are based on the generally accepted schematic structure of the parenchyma at the lobular level, assuming its perfect regular structure and geometrical symmetries. Hepatic lobule, portal lobule, or liver acinus are considered usually as autonomous functional units on which particular physiological problems are studied. We propose a new periodic unit—the liver representative periodic cell (LRPC) and establish its geometrical parametrization. The LRPC is constituted by two portal lobulae, such that it contains the liver acinus as a substructure. As a remarkable advantage over the classical phenomenological modelling approaches, the LRPC enables for multiscale modelling based on the periodic homogenization method. Derived macroscopic equations involve so called effective medium parameters, such as the tissue permeability, which reflect the LRPC geometry. In this way, mutual influences between the macroscopic phenomena, such as inhomogeneous perfusion, and the local processes relevant to the lobular (mesoscopic) level are respected. The LRPC based model is intended for its use within a complete hierarchical model of the whole liver. Using the Double-permeability Darcy model obtained by the homogenization, we illustrate the usefulness of the LRPC based modelling to describe the blood perfusion in the parenchyma.
In this paper we present the two-level homogenization of the flow in a deformable doubleporous structure described at two characteristic scales. The higher level porosity associated with the mesoscopic structure is constituted by channels in a matrix made of a microporous material consisting of elastic skeleton and pores saturated by a viscous fluid. The macroscopic model is derived by the homogenization of the flow in the heterogeneous structure characterized by two small parameters involved in the two-level asymptotic analysis, whereby a scaling ansatz is adopted to respect the pore size differences. The first level upscaling of the fluid-structure interaction problem yields a Biot continuum describing the mesoscopic matrix coupled with the Stokes flow in the channels. The second step of the homogenization leads to a macroscopic model involving three equations for displacements, the mesoscopic flow velocity and the micropore pressure. Due to interactions between the two porosities, the macroscopic flow is governed by a Darcy-Brinkman model comprising two equations which are coupled with the overall equilibrium equation respecting the hierarchical structure of the two-phase medium. Expressions of the effective macroscopic parameters of the homogenized double-porosity continuum are derived, depending on the characteristic responses of the mesoscopic structure. Some symmetry and reciprocity relationships are shown and issues of boundary conditions are discussed. The model has been implemented in the finite element code SfePy which is well-suited for computational homogenization. A numerical example of solving a nonstationary problem using mixed finite element method is included.
The paper deals with the homogenization of deformable porous media saturated by twocomponent electrolytes. The model relevant to the microscopic scale describes steady states of the medium while reflecting essential physical phenomena, namely electrochemical interactions in a dilute Newtonian solvent under assumptions of a small external electrostatic field and slow flow. The homogenization is applied to a linearized micromodel, whereby the thermodynamic equilibrium represents the reference state. Due to the dimensional analysis, scaling of the viscosity and electric permitivity is introduced, so that the limit model retains the characteristic length associated with the pore size and the electric double layer thickness. The homogenized model consists of two weakly coupled parts: the flow of the electrolyte can be solved in terms of a global pressure and streaming potentials of the two ions, independently of then the solid phase deformations which is computed afterwards for the fluid stress acting on pore walls. The two-scale model has been implemented in the Sfepy finite element software. The numerical results show dependence of the homogenized coefficients on the microstructure porosity. By virtue of the corrector result of the homogenization, microscopic responses in a local representative cell can be reconstructed from the macroscopic solutions.
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