CRII: OAC: A Computational Framework for Studying Transport Phenomena in Complex Networks: From Biological Towards Sustainable and Resilient Engineering Networks

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Transport networks are found everywhere in living systems, from the veins in the leaves of plants to the networks in our bodies: the respiratory system that handles the flow of air, the circulatory system that carries nutrients through blood circulation, and the networks of nerves and brain cells that transport electrical impulses. Because biological networks are necessary for transporting essential resources (blood, oxygen, water, and nutrients), they are critical for health and survival. Therefore, there is a clear need to explore the fundamental principles of these networks to better predict how they will behave under unexpected conditions in order to prevent potential failures. Exploring the underlying mechanisms of biological flow will not only advance the current state of knowledge of biological transport networks but can provide exceptional opportunities to solve complex problems in discrete calculus, graph theory, and optimization. This would, in turn, lead to improvements in engineering transport networks that are critical for maintaining human life in ways that will make them more durable and operate with greater efficiency, from networks that are large in scale, such as traffic systems, irrigation and water delivery systems, and power grids to networks that are small in scale such as fuel cells, solar cells, or artificial organs. The computational framework developed in this project will advance our knowledge of biological vascular networks, which can lead to optimized bioinspired solutions for many engineering transport networks such as water distribution and drainage networks to the treatment of cardiovascular diseases and more efficient drug delivery through the use of nanoparticles. Since the developed models for leaf venation networks in this project are critical to plant performance, the results can also enhance productivity of ecosystems and will have applications in agriculture. As such, this research project aligns with NSF’s mission to promote the progress of science and to advance national health, prosperity and welfare. This work incorporates multidisciplinary research collaborations that will make a significant contribution to education, outreach, and diversity by engaging undergraduate students, including underrepresented students, in research and incorporation of biology and engineering in outreach programs for K through 12 students.zOver billions of years of natural selection, nature has evolved complex topologies to solve a wide range of problems. A conspicuous class of such topologies are the ramified heterogeneous structures in numerous biological systems that transport resources, such as leaf venation networks, the root and axis system of plants, and the cardiovascular system of animals and humans. The evolution and function of such branched structures is not only critical for an organism’s survival and fitness but has also inspired scientists and engineers to improve the performance of many engineering flow networks such as fuel cells, solar cells and synthetic organs. The overall aim of this project is to 1) develop a robust and efficient computational framework to study transport phenomena in complex biological networks, 2) apply the framework to study the rules of nature that optimize mass and heat transfer in biological networks, and 3) assess the feasibility of bioinspired principles to design sustainable and resilient engineering networks. The proposed framework will enable the development of transformative models that not only advance our knowledge about underlying biophysical phenomena in highly heterogeneous biological networks but also provide new opportunities to apply bioinspired solutions for many engineering applications. The proposed research will result in a highly efficient and robust framework that enables (1) a fundamental understanding of the performance of complex biological transport networks and their biophysical characteristics and functions which are essential for survival, (2) an understanding of multiphysics coupled transport phenomena in highly heterogeneous biological networks, (3) an assessment of the resilience of networks to damage and varying fluxes and an understanding the underlying mechanisms and principles used by biological systems for optimization of cost and performance, and (4) assessment of the feasibility and scalability of the biological mechanisms as bioinspired solutions for practical engineering problems that range from micro to macro in scale.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.