Non-linear biphasic mixture model: Existence and uniqueness results

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the development and analysis of a mathematical model that is motivated by interstitial hydrodynamics and tissue deformation mechanics (poro-elasto-hydrodynamics) within an in-vitro solid tumour. The classical mixture theory is adopted for mass and momentum balance equations for a two-phase system. A main contribution of this study is we treat the physiological transport parameter (i.e., hydraulic resistivity) as anisotropic and heterogeneous, thus the governing system is strongly coupled and non-linear. We derived a weak formulation and then formulated the equivalent fixed-point problem. This enabled us to use the Galerkin method, and the classical results on monotone operators combined with the well-known Schauder and Banach fixed-point theorems to prove the existence and uniqueness of results.