Motion of a tank-treading ellipsoidal particle in a shear flow

Abstract

A theoretical model is developed for the motion of a human red blood cell in a shear field. The model consists of a tank-treading ellipsoidal membrane encapsulating an incompressible Newtonian liquid immersed in a plane shear flow of another incom- pressible Newtonian liquid. Equilibrium and energy considerations lead to a solution for the motion of the particle that depends on the ellipsoidal-axis ratios and the ratio of the inner- to outer-liquid viscosities. The effect of variation in these parameters is explored and it is shown that, depending on their values, one of two types of overall motion is exhibited: a steady stationary-orientation motion or an unsteady flipping motion. A qualitative agreement of the predicted behaviour of the model with experi- mental observations on red blood cells is found.