A minimalist model for co-evolving supply and drainage networks

TL;DR

This paper introduces a minimalist, coupled PDE model for co-evolving supply and drainage networks in continuous space, capturing complex natural and artificial network patterns through scalar field dynamics.

Contribution

It presents a novel coupled PDE framework that models the formation of supply and drainage networks as emergent patterns driven by scalar field interactions.

Findings

Networks exhibit branched and congested regimes.

Steady-state solutions depend on non-dimensional channelization indices.

Spatial patterns classified by network density and morphology.

Abstract

Numerous complex systems, both natural and artificial, are characterized by the presence of intertwined supply and/or drainage networks. Here we present a minimalist model of such co-evolving networks in a spatially continuous domain, where the obtained networks can be interpreted as a part of either the counter-flowing drainage or co-flowing supply and drainage mechanisms. The model consists of three coupled, nonlinear partial differential equations that describe spatial density patterns of input and output materials by modifying a mediating scalar field, on which supply and drainage networks are carved. In the 2-dimensional case, the scalar field can be viewed as the elevation of a hypothetical landscape, of which supply and drainage networks are ridges and valleys, respectively. In the 3-dimensional case, the scalar field serves as the chemical signal strength, in which vascularization of the supply and drainage networks occurs above a critical 'erosion' strength. The steady-state solutions are presented as a function of non-dimensional channelization indices for both materials. The spatial patterns of the emerging networks are classified within the branched and congested extreme regimes, within which the resulting networks are characterized based on the absolute as well as the relative values of two non-dimensional indices.