Abstract
A numerical model that considers the influence of the uniform magnetic field on the membrane of the red blood cell (RBC) is described in this study. The spring-network model which discritizes the RBC membranes into springs and mass elements was employed. The magnetic effect of the phospholipid and the transmembrane protein which composes the RBC membrane is then modeled by applying rotary torque on the edges of these elements. Further, the RBC computation was coupled with fluid computation using the Immersed Boundary method. The behavior of the RBC was compared with experimental results which showed a reasonable correspondence confirming the validity of the present model. Furthermore, the magnetic force distributions on the membrane showed that the curvature at the edge of the RBC influences the RBC rotation dominantly. The results also showed that the overall anisotropic diamagnetic susceptibility of the RBC can be predicted from the present model.
