The inverse problem of red blood cells deformed by optical tweezers

摘要

Optical tweezers are widely used to study the mechanical properties of human red blood cells. This paper examines the inverse problem of computing constitutive parameters from the experimental loading-response data. Hyperelastic constitutive models are employed to characterize the stress-strain relationship of red blood cells. The large deformation and evolution of stress in red blood cells under different tensile loadings are investigated using finite element simulations. The results show that the Yeoh model provides a better characterization of human red blood cells. A nonlinear regression analysis method is presented to derive hyperelastic parameters from the experimental results. The obtained constitutive model and parameters are validated by comparing the forcedisplacement curves from finite element simulations and from experimental data.