Paper Number
GV2 My Program
Session
Gallery of Rheology - Videos
Title
Jamming in sickle blood flow
Presentation Date and Time
October 22, 2025 (Wednesday) 6:30
Track / Room
Gallery of Rheology Session: Videos / Sweeney Ballroom E+F
Authors
- Szafraniec, Hannah M. (University of Minnesota, Department of Biomedical Engineering)
- Bull, Freya (University College London)
- Pearce, Philip (University College London)
- Wood, Dave K. (University of Minnesota)
Author and Affiliation Lines
Hannah M. Szafraniec1, Freya Bull2, Philip Pearce2 and Dave K. Wood3
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455; 2University College London, London, United Kingdom; 3University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Speaker / Presenter
Szafraniec, Hannah M.
Keywords
bio-fluid dynamics; biorheology; non-Newtonian fluids; suspensions
Text of Abstract
The rheology of suspensions is driven by the volume fraction of particles where discrete effects, such as near-wall lubrication and non-uniform cross-sectional particle distributions, govern local flow dynamics at small scales. This video demonstrates striking flow dynamics of deoxygenated sickle blood where significant axial variations in local red blood cell volume fractions develop along the length of the channel. Flow fields in these high-volume-fraction regions exhibit extreme profile blunting indicative of jamming, despite average volume fractions remaining well below the theoretical jamming limit. These variations reveal a critical microscopic mechanism responsible for the drastic increases in flow resistance observed in microchannels containing deoxygenated sickle blood not predicted by continuum approaches. In sickle cell disease, such hyper viscosity is linked to microvascular complications and increased disease severity, highlighting the need for accurate descriptions of biofluids that also capture the particle-level dynamics in physiologically relevant systems.