Shape dynamics of a red blood cell in Poiseuille flow

Abstract

We use numerical simulations to study the dynamics of red blood cells (RBCs) in unconfined and confined Poiseuille flow. Previous numerical studies with 3D vesicles have indicated that the slipper shape observed in experiments at high capillary number can be attributed to the bistability due to the interplay of wall push and outward migration tendency at higher viscosity contrasts. In this paper, we study this outward migration and bistability using numerical simulations for 3D capsules and provide phase diagrams of RBC dynamics with and without viscosity contrast. We observe a bistability of slipper and croissants in confined Poiseuille flow with viscosity contrast as observed in experiments.