2D Simulation of Red Blood Cell Deformation with Viscoelastic Properties under Ultrasonic Waves

Today, the use of ultrasonic waves is expanding to the separation of particles or cells. One of the effective factors in the separating is cell deformation caused by ultrasonic waves. The most popular models used for deformation are the elastic and viscoelastic models. In this research, the cell has been modeled in a fluid environment under the influence of ultrasonic waves and deformations has been obtained. For this purpose, the Helmholtz equation that is a combine of the disturbance equations of sound waves and Navier-Stokes equation is solved and acoustic pressure is obtained. This pressure is then applied to the cell as deformation agent and the deformation is obtained using fluid-solid interactions modeling. Initially, deformation of the cell with elastic properties has been presented and validation has been conducted using comparison with the previous experimental researches. Finally, the deformation for the viscoelastic cell, which has so far not been used for deformation modeling in the acoustic field, has been obtained and presented. The results show that the viscoelastic model has the most compatibility with the experiment results. Also, the effect of frequency on the aspect ratio has been investigated. As the frequency ranges increased from 2 to 8 MHz, the aspect ratio is increased to 0.3.