Abstract

The enzymatic breakdown of biological polymers is a key process in tissue remodeling, wound healing, and innate immune defense. However, predicting the degradation behavior quantitatively is difficult because of the complex interactions between diffusion-driven transport, enzyme activity, and changes in the structure of hydrated polymer networks. This study introduces a dimensionless computational framework for biodegradation that combines diffusion transport, Michaelis-Menten enzyme kinetics, swelling-enhanced transport, and structural resistance into a unified reaction-diffusion model. By removing dimensions from the governing equations, we can study the main dimensionless groups that govern the system’s behaviour. This study includes a transport-related Péclet-like number and a reaction-related Damköhler-like number. In this paper, we introduce a new dimensionless Biodegradation Number (BN) as an analytical tool. This metric combines transport improvement and degradation resistance into one measure. We use this framework to examine chitosan, a well-known biological polymer that lysozyme degrades, to demonstrate its predictive power. The results show that greater porosity and enzyme concentration improve degradation. In contrast, higher crosslinking density and molecular weight slow it down. The sensitivity analysis reveals that the diffusion coefficient and enzyme concentration are the main factors affecting degradation dynamics. The dimensionless framework provides a general, scale-independent way to compare degradation patterns in different hydrated biopolymer systems. These systems include extracellular matrix components and biofilms and are important for understanding how enzymes break down polymers in the body.