Fig 1.
Description of simulation problem.
(A) A segment of real microvessels in the rat mesentery [48], (B) the microvascular network extracted from the segment of microvessels, used as the simulation domain in the present work, and (C) the particle representation for a part of the microvascular network to show the particle discretization of the simulation domain.
Fig 2.
Snapshots of the CTCs in the microvascular network at different time instants .
The RBCs are in red, while the CTCs are in purple and also labeled by Arabic numerals for identification. The black arrows show the adhesion force of the CTCs. For more snapshots, see S1 Video.
Fig 3.
Adhesion behavior of the CTCs in the microvascular network.
Variations of (A) the bond number and (B) the physical time with respect to the x-position .
Fig 4.
Snapshots of the CTC margination in a straight tube.
These snapshots represent the motion states of RBCs and the CTC in the margination process. (A) The initial state, (B) RBCs move toward the center and (C) the CTC moves toward the wall.
Fig 5.
Effect of the interaction force between the CTC and RBCs on margination behavior.
(A) The deviation of the CTC centroid from the tube centerline at the shear rates of
and 0.27. (B) The radial aggregation force
acting on the CTC from the RBCs, where the positive is the force directing to the tube wall, and the negative is the force directing to the tube centerline.
Fig 6.
Comparisons of the three adhesion states.
Comparisons of the three distinct adhesion states between our results (A-C) and those obtained by Zhang et al. [55] (D-F) under Re = 0.1. The detachment state (A and D) is obtained under Ca = 0.015 and Kd = 1.0; the rolling adhesion state (B and E) is obtained under Ca = 0.005 and Kd = 1.0; the firm adhesion state (C and F) is obtained under Ca = 0.015 and Kd = 0.01.
Fig 7.
Comparisons of (A) bond number and (B) translational velocity in the three adhesion states.
Fig 8.
Effect of the RBC hematocrit on the CTC adhesion.
(A) The snapshots of the CTC at about , the variations of (B) the bond number and (C) the radial aggregation force from the RBCs, at the RBC hematocrits of Hct = 10–40%.
Fig 9.
Effect of the shear rate of fluid on the CTC adhesion.
(A) The snapshots of the CTC at about , the variations of (B) the bond number, and (C) the translational velocity, at the shear rates of
, 0.095 and 0.19.
Table 1.
Physical quantities and their characteristic quantities.