Numerical Simulations of Shear Stress in Microfluidic Channel Models

Abstract

Von Willebrand factor (vWF) is the largest glycoprotein in blood, which plays a major role in primary haemostasis via its interaction with endothelial cell surface receptors and platelets. Altered shear stress value can cause conformational unfolding of vWF, which leads to the activation of the factor. The primary aim of this work is to study the effect of shear stress on the activation of vWF with the designed microfluidic chambers. Numerical simulations were performed on different three-dimensional microfluidic system models, including two input channels converging and forming a single output. In this work, the flow field, the occurring shear stress, and velocity between the two fluids with different densities and dynamic viscosities were investigated. The numerical simulations are necessary to understand the flow field and the shear stress, which affect the factor.