Abstract
Biological systems are characterized by a signicant level of heterogeneity and, on the macro-scale, behave as viscoelastic materials. To study the mechanical behavior of biological systems, we have developed a novel parallel algorithm for fully three-dimensional numerical simulation of multiphase viscoelastic ow. The algorithm consists of the second order Volume-of-Fluid method for tracking uid-uid interfaces, the projection method for solving the Navier-Stokes equations, and the semi-implicit factorized scheme for the constitutive equation for the stress tensor (Giesekus, Oldroyd-B, or Upper-Convected Maxwell uid). We will talk about the application of the algorithm to the problems in microvascular hemodynamics, such as leukocyte-endothelial cell adhesion and blood ow in channels with complex geometry. We will show that the code we developed can accurately predict leukocyte rolling on vascular endothelium and blood ow in sprouting vessels. Proposals for extending the algorithm to other biological problems will also be discussed.