Many of the intriguing properties of blood originate from its cellular nature. Therefore, accurate modeling of blood flow related phenomena requires a description of the dynamics at the level of individual cells. This, however, presents several computational challenges that can only be addressed by high performance computing. We present Hemocell, a parallel computing framework which implements validated mechanical models for red blood cells and is capable of reproducing the emergent transport characteristics of such a complex cellular system. It is computationally capable of handling large domain sizes, thus it is able to bridge the cell-based micro-scale and macroscopic domains. We introduce a new material model for resolving the mechanical responses of red blood cell membranes under various flow conditions and compare it with a well established model. Our new constitutive model has similar accuracy under relaxed flow conditions, however, it performs better for shear rates over 1,500 s−1. We also introduce a new method to generate randomized initial conditions for dense mixtures of different cell types free of initial positioning artifacts.

The radial distribution of cells in blood flow inside vessels is highly non-homogeneous. This leads to numerous important properties of blood, yet the mechanisms shaping these distributions are not fully understood. The motion of cells is governed by a variety of hydrodynamic interactions and cell-deformation mechanics. Properties, such as the effective cell diffusivity, are therefore difficult to investigate in flows other than pure shear flows. In this work, several single-cell, cell-pair, and large-scale many-cell simulations are performed using a validated numerical model. Apart from the single-cell mechanical validations, the arising flow profile, cell free layer widths, and cell drift velocities are compared to previous experimental findings. The motion of the cells at various radial positions and under different flow conditions is extracted, and evaluated through a statistical approach. An extended diffusive flux-type model is introduced which describes the cell diffusivities under a wide range of flow conditions and incorporates the effects of cell deformability through a shear dependent description of the cell collision cross sections. This model is applicable for both red blood cells and platelets. Further evaluation of particle trajectories shows that the margination of platelets cannot be the net result of gradients in diffusivity. However, the margination mechanism is strongly linked to the gradient of the hematocrit level. Finally, it shows that platelets marginate only until the edge of the red blood cell distribution and they do not fill the cell free layer.

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This discussion paper introduces the concept of the Virtual Artery as a multiscale model for arterial physiology and pathologies at the physics–chemistry–biology (PCB) interface. The cellular level is identified as the mesoscopic level, and we argue that by coupling cell-based models with other relevant models on the macro- and microscale, a versatile model of arterial health and disease can be composed. We review the necessary ingredients, both models of arteries at many different scales, as well as generic methods to compose multiscale models. Next, we discuss how this can be combined into the virtual artery. Finally, we argue that the concept of models at the PCB interface could or perhaps should become a powerful paradigm, not only as in our case for studying physiology, but also for many other systems that have such PCB interfaces.This article is part of the themed issue ‘Multiscale modelling at the physics–chemistry–biology interface’.