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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Origin of red blood cell slippers in confined geometries

Berin Becic, Katharina Gräßel, and Stephan Gekle*

  • *Contact author: stephan.gekle@uni-bayreuth.de
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Phys. Rev. Fluids 10, L061101 – Published 3 June, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.10.L061101

Abstract

One of the most intriguing characteristics of red blood cells is their ability to form asymmetric, rotating slipper states even in symmetric channel flows. Here we argue that the common association of these slipper states with the well-understood tank-treading in shear flow is incomplete. We use boundary-integral simulations for a systematic decomposition of the channel flow field into linear shear and quadratic curvature components. Our findings show that a fore-aft asymmetry induced by flow curvature is a plausible mechanism behind the formation of slipper shapes.

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Phys. Rev. Fluids 10, L061101– Published 3 June, 2025
  • Received 16 September 2024
  • Accepted 18 April 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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