Accurate Coarse-Grained Modeling of Red Blood Cells

2008/09/12 by Igor V. Pivkin, George Em Karniadakis · 392 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Chemical Engineering · Mathematics · Medicine · #Biological system #Blood properties and coagulation #Computer science #Dissipative particle dynamics #Dissipative system #Geometry #Granularity #Lipid Membrane Structure and Behavior #Mathematics #Mechanics #Physics #Plane (geometry) #Polymer #Rheology and Fluid Dynamics Studies #Statistical physics #Thermodynamics

paper · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.101.118105

published in Physical Review Letters 101(11), 118105 (American Physical Society)

openalex publication_date 2008/09/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06

Abstract

We develop a systematic coarse-graining procedure for modeling red blood cells (RBCs) using arguments based on mean-field theory. The three-dimensional RBC membrane model takes into account the bending energy, in-plane shear energy, and constraints of fixed surface area and fixed enclosed volume. The coarse-graining procedure is general, it can be used for arbitrary level of coarse-graining and does not employ any fitting parameters. The sensitivity of the coarse-grained model is investigated and its behavior is validated against available experimental data and in dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulations of RBCs in capillary and shear flows.

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