Numerical Study of the Flow Behaviour of Discocyte Red Blood Cell Through a Non-uniform Capillary

Red blood cells (RBCs) are the main component of the blood and comprise about 45% of the total volume of blood. The key role of RBCs is to transfer oxygen from pulmonary capillaries to tissue capillaries, and transfer carbon dioxide from tissues to lungs. While some of these capillaries have uniform cross-sections, some non-uniform capillaries are also present. Often the diameters of these cross sections are smaller than the diameter of the RBCs. Yet because of the high deformability of its viscoelastic membrane, the RBCs are able to flow through these capillaries. The purpose of this analysis is therefore to investigate the flow activity of RBCs during their passage through a non-uniform capillary using the Lattice Boltzmann – Immersed Boundary (LB-IB) method.