Model development and numerical simulation of thermo-sensitive hydrogel and microgel-based drug delivery

Abstract

In the dissertation, two mathematic models are presented for simulation of the hydrogels. One is a steady-state model for responsive behaviors of thermo-sensitive hydrogels, where a novel multiphysic steady-state model, termed the Multi-Effect-Coupling thermal-stimulus (MECtherm) model, is developed to simulate and predict the volume phase transition of the neutral and ionized thermo-sensitive hydrogels when they are immersed in bathing solution. The other is a transient model for drug release from microgels. In this model, both the drug dissolution and diffusion are taken into account through the continuous matrices of spherical microgels. Using this model, the controlled nifedipine release from chitosan spherical microgels is simulated. These developed models, consisting of linear/nonlinear partial differential equations coupled with a transcendental equation, are solved by the novel true meshless Hermite-cloud method.