A fast method to simulate travelling waves in nonhomogeneous chemical or biological media

摘要

Waves in excitable media can be treated by a simple geometric theory. Thepropagation velocity is assumed known and evolution of wave fronts isdetermined by elementary physical principles (Fermat's principle, Huygens'principle). Based on this geometric theory a fast computational method isdeveloped. By this method the distorting effect of the spatial grid is avoided.The method is applied to the cases when a circular obstacle is surrounded by ahomogeneous and heterogeneous medium, respectively. The numerical simulationsshow that the method is convenient, fast and reliable.