A DLM/FD/IB Method for Simulating Compound Cell Interacting with Red Blood Cells in a Microchannel

In this article, a computational model and related methodologies have been tested for simulating the motion of a malaria infected red blood cell (iRBC for short) in Poiseuille flow at low Reynolds numbers. Besides the deformability of the red blood cell membrane, the migration of a neutrally buoyant particle (used to model the malaria parasite inside the membrane) is another factor to determine the iRBC motion. Typically an iRBC oscillates in a Poiseuille flow due to the competition between these two factors. The interaction of an iRBC and several RBCs in a narrow channel shows that, at lower flow speed, the iRBC can be easily pushed toward the wall and stay there to block the channel. But, at higher flow speed, RBCs and iRBC stay in the central region of the channel since their migrations are dominated by the motion of the RBC membrane.