A numerical approach to ionic transport through charged membranes (Q1098608)

The ionic transport through charged membranes is described in terms of Nernst-Planck and Poisson equations. Even introducing the electroneutrality assumption (which has been often used) does not eliminate difficulties in solving the equation system - the intrinsic nonlinearity and others - stating the need for numerical procedures. A finite-difference method, including refinements in distance scaling, is proposed for the solution of the steady state transport across charged membranes when an electric current density and a convective flux are involved. The method is capable of dealing with an arbitrary number of ionic species of any charge number. Main features of the algorithm are the numerical stability and the ease and flexibility for introducing the boundary conditions.