A multiphase approach to model blood flow in micro-tubes

Abstract

The development of micro-fluidic devices to support the systemic circulation of blood has been used either as a temporary bridge or as a recovery method to treat different heart diseases. Blood flow through these artificial micro-channels is a major challenge because blood at scales from tens to hundreds of microns behaves as a multiphase suspension of deformable particles. A homogeneous model of blood is not adequate if the effect of cell segregation through these devices is of interest to evaluate blood cell damage (e.g., hemolysis or thrombosis). To determine the flow field and model the occurrence of segregation, an Eulerian frame of reference is employed. The simulations are performed in a tube of internal diameter of 217 µm. We find that the results contribute to improve the understanding of the fluid dynamics of blood as a multi-component medium. Our simulations are based on an alternative methodology for blood modelling at a lower computational cost compared to DNS.