Numerical modelling of a spheroid living cell membrane under hydrostatic pressure

Abstract

This paper contains the strain gradient theory to capture size effects in a spheroid living cell membrane. One of the common mechanisms to apply mechanotransduction to a living cell is hydrostatic pressure. So, in this problem the outer surface cell membrane is exposed to hydrostatic pressure and the inner surface is in contact with the cytoplasm. In the last twenty years, non-thermal techniques, including high hydrostatic pressure, have been used in the food industry as an effective parameter to inactivate microorganisms. The equilibrium equation and corresponding boundary conditions of a spheroid living cell membrane are obtained using minimum potential energy. In the following, the exact solution of Navier equation is presented. In order to present numerical results yeast cell properties are used. The material properties of the yeast cell have been taken from literature. Results of this paper have been validated with experimental data. At the end, a numerical example is performed to investigate the effect of some important parameters on the stress analysis of the living cell.