A 3D numerical membrane model for simulating red blood cells (RBC) dynamics and transport

The predominant components of human blood are red blood cells (RBC) and the plasma fluid. The RBC membrane exhibit non-Newtonian behavior commonly modeled using dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) approach (Pivkin and Karniadakis PRL 2008) and Finite Element approach (Balogh and Bagchi JCP 2017) while the plasma (outside RBC) and cytoplasm (inside RBC) exhibit Newtonian behavior modeled using Finite Volume technique. A physically realistic membrane model coupled with a fast accurate fluid solver is required for simulating RBC dynamics.

We develop a 3D accurate numerical membrane model based on a DPD approach (Fedosov et al Biophy. J. 2010) coupled with a massively parallel directional splitting Finite Volume fluid solver via an immersed boundary method (IBM). This model represents the dynamics through nodes distributed on membrane surface which interact with each other by a set of spring, viscous, and bending forces along with the conservation of membrane area and volume.

We present results concerning the verification and validation of the standalone membrane model as well as of the dynamics of a single and multiple RBC in various fluid flow configurations.