Numerical Simulation of a White Blood Cell Motion within an Arteriole.

Document Type : Research Studies

Author

Mechanical Power Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Mansoura University, El-Mansoura 35516, Egypt

Abstract

The motion of a leukocyte (White Blood Cell) within a straight vessel, representative of an arteriole, is simulated using dynamic meshing and a six-degree-of-freedom model within FLUENT (FLUENT Inc.). The fluid is modelled as both Newtonian and non-Newtonian to simulate the bulk effects of blood. The results showed that the leukocyte lags the undisturbed velocity profile and migrates towards the centreline at all radial locations. Haematocrit is also modelled as a scalar transported by the flow and a model is introduced via a User-Defined Function (UDF) to generate a force based on the haematocrit effect. This additional forcing results in inward radial migration and outward radial migration based on the WBC radial position for the non-Newtonian case.

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