Numerical Simulation of the Coagulation Dynamics of Blood

Abstract

The process of platelet activation and blood coagulation is quite complex and not yet completely understood. Recently, a phenomenological meaningful model of blood coagulation and clot formation in flowing blood that extends existing models to integrate biochemical, physiological and rheological factors, has been developed. The aim of this paper is to present results from a computational study of a simplified version of this coupled fluid-biochemistry model. A generalized Newtonian model with shearthinning viscosity has been adopted to describe the flow of blood. To simulate the biochemical changes and transport of various enzymes, proteins and platelets involved in the coagulation process, a set of coupled advection-diffusion -reaction equations is used. Three-dimensional numerical simulations are carried out for the whole model in a straight vessel with circular cross-section, using a finite volume semi-discretization in space, on structured grids, and a multistage scheme for time integration. Clot formation and growth are investigated in the vicinity of an injured region of the vessel wall. These are preliminary results aimed at showing the validation of the model and of the numerical code.

Simulation of the Three-Dimensional Flow of Blood Using a Shear-Thinning Viscoelastic Fluid Model

“…The Reynolds number used in the simulations was quite low (of the order of 10 2 ) and thus no additional stabilization was needed for the flow variables. The details of this approach can be found in earlier papers [11,12] and the references therein.…”

Methods of Blood Flow Modelling

“…There are various approaches to model blood coagulation and clot growth. Concentrations of blood factors and of platelets can be described by reaction-diffusion-convection equations [5,10,19,60,135]. Individual cell model with cell interaction in the process of clot growth are studied in [50,109,128,146].…”

Grow with the flow: a spatial-temporal model of platelet deposition and blood coagulation under flow

“…Anand et al, 2003;Beltrami & Jesty, 2001;Bodnar & Sequeira, 2008;Ermakova et al, 2005;Xu et al, 2008Xu et al, , 2009Lobanov & Starozhilova, 2005;Lobanova et al, 2004;Zarnitsina et al, 2001;Jones & Mann, 1994;Hockin et al, 2002;Fogelson & Guy, 2004, but, to our knowledge, the only one that couples a comprehensive model of coagulation biochemistry to models of platelet deposition and flow is that introduced by Kuharsky & Fogelson (2001). The ' Kuharsky and Fogelson (KF) model' considers the physical and chemical platelet and coagulation events that occur in a thin layer, called the reaction zone, just above a small vascular injury.…”