Cell resolved blood flow modeling with the Lattice Boltzmann method Cell deformability and transport in diseases

Whole blood is a complex suspension of cells, where the emergent rheology and transport phenomena are highly dependent on the cellular components that comprise whole blood. Red blood cells, the most numerous component, due to their high deformability and unique bi-concave shape, give rise to many departures from the Newtonian fluid description of whole blood. Understanding the non-Newtonian and transport properties of whole blood requires modeling the mechanics of the individual flowing red blood cells, as each motion and collision is needed to solve for the emergent rheology. The main motivation for this work is to solve the underlying physics and physiology concerning whole blood, while providing justification for the development of computational models. This is pursued in chapter two with the parameterization, through sensitivity analysis, of a stiffened red blood cell model. The rigid red blood cell model is developed in order to mimic diseases that are known to impede the deformability of the red blood cell, such as sickle cell anemia and diabetes. Chapter three provides the first application of a three-dimensional cell-resolved blood flow model in a reconstructed diabetic microaneurysm. Chapter four investigates the effect of pulsatile flow on the transport of red blood cells and platelets into aneurysm geometries with varying dome-to-neck aspect ratios. And chapter five raises cell-resolved blood flow modeling to larger, millimeter to centimeter, scale vessels through the development and proposal of a heterogeneous multiscale model for blood flow.