The Sensitivity of the Statistical Characteristics to the Selected Parameters of the Simulation Model in the Red Blood Cell Flow Simulations

摘要

The main aim of our work is future optimization of microfluidic devices used for capture of rare cells, for instance circulating tumour cells. Since the manufacture of such devices and performing biological experiments are complicated and time consuming, in silico experiments are preferable for this purpose. But first a simulation model has to be properly verified. In this article we propose statistical characteristics for comparison of simulation and biological experiments of red blood cells moving in a fluid. At the same time these characteristics allow better understanding of the course of the simulation and the behaviour of its individual components. In the first part we explore the sensitivity of some of the characteristics formulated on the grounds of the previous research to various topologies of the microfluidic channel with one solid hematocrit. The second part of the article analyzes the entire blood cell group; it focuses on their position (orientation) in the channel. To analyze the orientation, we use the principal component analysis (PCA), by means of which we can determine the statistical distribution of the directions of a blood cell set with a certain channel geometry. This characteristics describes the qualities of blood cells during a simulation, which are interesting when we are analyzing, as a targeted value, the possibility of the largest number possible of blood cells getting to the wall of the channel. We have tested the characteristics for various simulation parameters, and we have obtained interesting results.