# A unified analysis of nano-to-microscale particle dispersion in tubular blood flow

## TL;DR

This study provides a comprehensive analysis of how particle transport mechanisms in blood flow transition from nanoscale Brownian motion to microscale margination, using a multiscale 3D computational approach across various conditions.

## Contribution

It introduces a unified multiscale model that quantitatively links particle size to dispersion and margination in blood flow, bridging nanoscale and microscale transport mechanisms.

## Key findings

- Nanoscale particles disperse smoothly due to Brownian motion.
- A critical particle size (~1 μm) causes increased margination.
- RBC-enhanced shear-induced diffusivity dominates over Brownian diffusion.

## Abstract

Transport of solid particles in blood flow exhibits qualitative differences in the transport mechanism when the particle varies from nanoscale to microscale size comparable to the red blood cell (RBC). The effect of microscale particle margination has been investigated by several groups. Also, the transport of nanoscale particles (NPs) in blood has received considerable attention in the past. This study attempts to bridge the gap by quantitatively showing how the transport mechanism varies with particle size from nano- to microscale. Using a three-dimensional (3D) multiscale method, the dispersion of particles in microscale tubular flows is investigated for various hematocrits, vessel diameters and particle sizes. NPs exhibit a nonuniform, smoothly-dispersed distribution across the tube radius due to severe Brownian motion. The near-wall concentration of NPs can be moderately enhanced by increasing hematocrit and confinement. Moreover, there exists a critical particle size ($\sim$1 $\mu$m) that leads to excessive retention of particles in the cell-free region near the wall, i.e., margination. Above this threshold, the margination propensity increases with the particle size. The dominance of RBC-enhanced shear-induced diffusivity (RESID) over Brownian diffusivity (BD) results in 10 times higher radial diffusion rates in the RBC-laden region compared to that in the cell-free layer, correlated with the high margination propensity of microscale particles. This work captures the particle size-dependent transition from Brownian-motion dominant dispersion to margination using a unified 3D multiscale computational approach, and highlights the linkage between the radial distribution of RESID and the margination of particles in confined blood flows.