Author(s)

Aleksey Ni¹, Taqi Ahmad Cheema², Cheol Woo Park^1*

¹School of Mechanical Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea.
²Department of Mechanical Engineering, GIK Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi, Pakistan.

Alcohol influences human health condition by starving red blood cells (RBCs) of oxygen, which results in poor blood circulation. Starved RBCs clump together and restrict blood flow, especially in capillaries. In this study, a finite element method-based moving mesh technique was applied to simulate the motion and deformation of a single RBC under different flow conditions. A 2-D model of a single RBC floating in plasma-alcohol solution was created using Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) method with moving mesh for a fluid structure interaction problem. Cell deformability and stability were studied in an alcoholic plasma solution at different fluid flow conditions. Poor blood circulation was observed with RBC tending to rotate and oscillate at low flow rates. Moreover, RBC exhibited a parachute shape while moving without oscillation, which indicated improved micro-circulation at increased flow rates. In both cases, RBC exhibited a parachute shape while moving through micro-channel at increased flow rates. The simulation also showed the significant increase of RBC deformability with the increasing viscosity of plasma as a result of alcohol presence in blood.

Moving Mesh, Fluid Structure Interaction, Alcohol, RBC, Microvessel, Deformability, Micro-Circulation

Ni, A. , Cheema, T. and Park, C. (2015) Numerical Study of RBC Motion and Deformation through Microcapillary in Alcohol Plasma Solution. Open Journal of Fluid Dynamics, 5, 26-33. doi: 10.4236/ojfd.2015.51004.