TY - JOUR
T1 - Red blood cells and other nonspherical capsules in shear flow
T2 - Oscillatory dynamics and the tank-treading-to-tumbling transition
AU - Skotheim, J. M.
AU - Secomb, T. W.
PY - 2007/2/13
Y1 - 2007/2/13
N2 - We consider the motion of red blood cells and other nonspherical microcapsules dilutely suspended in a simple shear flow. Our analysis indicates that depending on the viscosity, membrane elasticity, geometry, and shear rate, the particle exhibits either tumbling, tank-treading of the membrane about the viscous interior with periodic oscillations of the orientation angle, or intermittent behavior in which the two modes occur alternately. For red blood cells, we compute the complete phase diagram and identify a novel tank-treading-to-tumbling transition as the shear rate decreases. Observations of such motions coupled with our theoretical framework may provide a sensitive means of assessing capsule properties.
AB - We consider the motion of red blood cells and other nonspherical microcapsules dilutely suspended in a simple shear flow. Our analysis indicates that depending on the viscosity, membrane elasticity, geometry, and shear rate, the particle exhibits either tumbling, tank-treading of the membrane about the viscous interior with periodic oscillations of the orientation angle, or intermittent behavior in which the two modes occur alternately. For red blood cells, we compute the complete phase diagram and identify a novel tank-treading-to-tumbling transition as the shear rate decreases. Observations of such motions coupled with our theoretical framework may provide a sensitive means of assessing capsule properties.
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U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.078301
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.078301
M3 - Article
C2 - 17359066
AN - SCOPUS:33847034764
SN - 0031-9007
VL - 98
JO - Physical review letters
JF - Physical review letters
IS - 7
M1 - 078301
ER -