Modelling platelet dynamics in blood flow: an unresolved DEM approach

Abstract

Computational models of blood flow are caught between fully resolved cell-based methods, which faithfully reproduce the dynamics of individual cells but are computationally prohibitive at vessel scale, and continuum models, scalable yet blind to particle motion. We present an unresolved, mesoscale computational fluid dynamics-discrete element method (CFD-DEM) model of platelet dynamics that bridges this gap and, coupled with an existing unresolved description of deformable red blood cells, moves closer to a scalable model of whole blood. Within this framework, implemented on the open source OpenFOAM-LIGGGHTS coupling, platelets are represented as rigid oblate particles advanced by orientation dependent drag, lift and hydrodynamic torque closures. The model is first validated against resolved simulations and experiments in cylindrical microvessels of diameter $100-200\,μm$, across wall shear rates $\dotγ=150-1650\,s^{-1}$ and hematocrit Ht $=10-20\%$ then used to characterize platelet margination. The model quantifies diffusion coefficient, CFL formation and their dependence on shear rate, Ht and channel size. In particular, platelet diffusivity grows with vessel size and shear rate, while remaining insensitive to Ht, whereas CFL thickens with shear rate and thins with Ht. We further show that even at this mesoscale level, the model remains sensitive to platelet shape: oblate platelets marginate faster and diffuse nearly an order of magnitude more than their spherical surrogates, reaching a comparable steady state distribution but along markedly different temporal paths. Together these results demonstrate that shape driven platelet dynamics can be recovered at a fraction of the cost of fully resolved methods.