Margination of white blood cells - a computational approach by a hydrodynamic phase field model

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Abstract

We numerically investigate margination of white blood cells and demonstrate the dependency on a number of conditions including haematocrit, the deformability of the cells and the Reynolds number. The approach, which is based on a mesoscopic hydrodynamic Helfrich-type model, reproduces previous results, e.g. a decreasing tendency for margination with increasing deformability and a non-monotonic dependency on haematocrit. The consideration of inertia effects, which may be of relevance in various parts of the cardiovascular system, indicates a decreasing tendency for margination with increasing Reynolds number. The effect is discussed by analysing inertial and non-inertial lift forces for single cells under different flow conditions and large-scale two-dimensional simulations of interacting red blood cells and white blood cells in an idealized blood vessel.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)389-406
JournalJournal of Fluid Mechanics
Volume790
Publication statusPublished - 10 Mar 2016
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

Scopus 84956940694

Keywords

Keywords

  • biological fluid dynamics, blood flow