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Stratified multiphase model for blood flow in a venular bifurcation

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Abstract

Availablein vitro andin vivo experimental observations suggest that red cell aggregation and blood vessel geometry are improtant determinants of the flow characteristics of blood in venules. However, no consistent relationship has been observed between red blood cell aggregation and vascular resistance. The present work attempts to understand this relationship by evaluating computationally the effect of red cell aggregation on the flow characteristics of blood in a converging vessel, bifurcation. The proposed mathematical model considers blood as a two-phase continuum, with a central core region of concentrated red cell suspension that is surrounded by a layer of plasma adjacent to the vessel wall. In the central core region, blood is described by Quemada’s non-Newtonian rheological model, in which local viscosity is a function of both the local hematocrit and a structural parameter that is related to the size of red blood cell aggregates. Fluids from the two feeding branches are immiscible, which results in a stratified multiphase flow in the collecting venule. Calculations predict a complex, three-dimensional pattern of blood flow and generally nonaxisymmetric distribution of velocity, hematocrit, and shear stress in the collecting venule. The calculations are a first step toward a realistic model of blood flow in the venous microcirculation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, 720 Rutland Avenue, 21205, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Bigyani Das, Giora Enden & Aleksander S. Popel

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  1. Bigyani Das
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  2. Giora Enden
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  3. Aleksander S. Popel
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Das, B., Enden, G. & Popel, A.S. Stratified multiphase model for blood flow in a venular bifurcation. Ann Biomed Eng 25, 135–153 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02738545

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02738545

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