A Domain Decomposition Method to Simulate the Response of Biological Cell Systems Exposed to Radio Frequency

A combination of a domain decomposition algorithm and a finite element method for the efficient three dimensional simulation of electro-quasistatic multi-scale problems is presented and applied to the simulation of the dielectric properties of biological cell suspensions. In this scheme, cells and membranes are discretized by meshes fitted to their geometrical scales. The simulation can be carried out for all considered cells in parallel. The data exchange between the particular meshes relies on Robin boundary conditions assuring the conservation of fluxes according to Maxwell's equations. Efficient algorithms are provided for data exchange between the meshes. From simulation results, biologically relevant quantities, such as the transmembrane potential, are computed.