Network Hemodynamics: A Computational Study of Cellular Blood Flow and Particulate Transport in Microvascular Capillary Networks

CBET-1604308PI：Bagchi，Prosenjit该奖项为数值模拟和基于微流体的实验提供支持，以研究小血管中的血液流动，并检查红细胞在血管树不同分支中的分布。虽然这是一个长期存在的问题，但先进的计算和实验的结合将提供新的见解来帮助解释几十年来文献中报告的观察结果。数值计算将检查在血管分叉处和血管重组处的红细胞的分割。这些模拟还将检查与时间相关的流动变化，这些变化是通过血管网络流动的内在原因。模拟的结果将与血液流经微流体通道和通道网络的实验进行比较。该项目的结果将对在组织工程、静脉药物输送和血液处理设备设计等领域工作的科学家和工程师有用。这项研究将被纳入一门面向高中生的暑期课程，名为《科学与工程中的计算方法》。将招募大学生，特别是来自代表不足群体的大学生参与研究。将开发可变形、多分散的血细胞在分支、合并和曲折的血管网络中流动的三维、多尺度直接数值模拟。该模型将包括由超粘弹性本构定律控制的不断演变的蜂窝界面和由网络体系结构定义的复杂的静态边界。整个模型将结合浸没边界方法、用于界面变形的有限元方法和用于粗粒分子相互作用的随机蒙特卡罗方法。该模型将通过与微流控通道网络中的血液流动实验进行比较来验证。这些工具将被用来检测网络结构对血细胞分布、网络流动阻力和自持性流动振荡生长的影响。该模型还将用于研究网络结构对血液凝块形成和药物颗粒沉积的影响。该项目的结果将提供一个器官尺度的血流模型，该模型保留了细胞尺度的动力学。

CBET - 1604308PI: Bagchi, ProsenjitThis award provides for support for numerical simulations and microfluidics-based experiments to study blood flow in small vessels and to examine the distribution of red blood cells among various branches of the vascular tree. Although this is a long-standing problem, the combination of advanced computations and experiments will provide new insights to help explain observations reported in the literature over decades. The numerical computations will examine the partitioning of red cells at vessel bifurcations where a vessel splits into two vessels and at locations where vessels recombine. The simulations will also examine time-dependent flow variations that are intrinsic to flow through vessel networks. Results from simulations will be compared with experiments of blood flow through microfluidic channels and networks of channels. The results of the project will be useful to scientists and engineers who work in areas such as tissue engineering, intravenous drug delivery, and in the design of blood-handling devices. The research will be incorporated into a summer course for high-school students titled "Computational Methods in Science and Engineering." Undergraduates, especially those from underrepresented groups, will be recruited to participate in the research.A three-dimensional, multiscale direct numerical simulation will be developed for deformable, poly-disperse blood cells flowing through networks of bifurcating, merging, and tortuous vessels. The model will include evolving cellular interfaces governed by hyper-viscoelastic constitutive laws and intricate stationary boundaries defined by the network architecture. The overall model will combine an immersed boundary method, a finite element method for interface deformation and a stochastic Monte-Carlo method for coarse-graining molecular interactions. The model will be validated by comparison with experiments of blood flow in networks of microfluidic channels. These tools will be used to examine the influence of network architecture on the distribution of blood cells, the network flow resistance, and the growth of self-sustained flow oscillations. The model will also be used to examine the influence of network architecture on the formation of blood clots and on deposition of drug-bearing particles. The results of this project will provide an organ-scale model of blood flow that retains cellular-scale dynamics.