Experimental and Computational Models of Microparticle Transport under Dynamic Flow Conditions

Abstract

Past studies have primarily focused on the effects of blood flow conditions on platelets and how they bind to the cell wall. Research regarding microparticle behavior with respect to flow conditions has yet to be conducted extensively. The purpose of this study was to understand microparticle deposition under different flow conditions and its possible role in thrombosis. This study used flow chambers and fluorescent beads as analogs to microparticles. Flow conditions were set based on physiologically relevant wall shear rates. Microparticle deposition was then observed under a microscope and quantified microscopically. Computational models were also developed under the same flow conditions to compare to the experiments. As expected, there was an increasing trend in deposition rate with increasing shear rate for the experiments. On the other hand, the computational models exhibited a steady or slight decrease in deposition rate with increasing shear rate. Further analysis of computational parameters must be done to determine the inconsistency. This may be one aspect to explore, but there may be others.