Exogenous-endogenous surfactant interaction yields heterogeneous spreading in complex branching networks

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the interaction between introduced and endogenous surfactants causes complex, heterogeneous spreading patterns in branching networks, providing insights into transport phenomena like those in lung airways.

Contribution

It introduces a nonlinear model capturing surfactant interactions and demonstrates how endogenous surfactant influences maze-solving dynamics in complex networks.

Findings

Endogenous surfactant transforms local spreading into a non-local process.

The model reveals maze-solving behavior driven by surfactant interactions.

Results offer insights into surfactant transport in lung airways.

Abstract

Experiments have shown that surfactant introduced to a liquid-filled maze can find the solution path. We reveal how the maze-solving dynamics arise from interactions between the added surfactant and endogenous surfactant present at the liquid surface. We simulate the dynamics using a nonlinear model solved with a discrete mimetic scheme on a graph. Endogenous surfactant transforms local spreading into a non-local problem with an omniscient view of the maze geometry, key to the maze-solving dynamics. Our results offer insight into surfactant-driven transport in complex networks such as lung airways.