Patrick Snabre

Light-scattering technique for the study of orientation and deformation of red blood cells in a concentrated suspension

The backscattered and transmitted diagrams of He-Ne laser light illuminating a concentrated suspension of red blood cells (RBCs) are investigated. The shapes of these diagrams are closely related to the state of the suspension (at rest or submitted to a simple shear flow) and to the parameters that govern the non-Newtonian behavior of the blood suspension (such as the viscosity of the suspending medium and the volume concentration of the cells). An asymmetry in the backscattering diagram, which is absent on transmitted diagrams, is observed when the suspension is in a simple shear flow. This asymmetry is related to the deformation and orientation of the RBCs. The propagation of light through the suspension is modeled and a set of Monte Carlo simulations is performed to substantiate the inference that the relative variation of the backscattered flux is proportional to the gradients of deformation of the RBCs, and that such gradients must be known in order to apply a rheological model describing the non-Newtonian behavior of RBC membranes.

Cell disaggregation behavior in shear flow

The disaggregation behavior of erythrocytes in dextran saline solution was investigated by a light reflectometry technique in a Couette flow and in a plane Poiseuille flow. Dextran concentration and mass average molecular weight of the polymer fraction strongly influence the shear stress dependence of the erythrocyte suspension reflectivity in shear flow and the critical hydrodynamic conditions (shear rate or shear stress) for near-complete cell dispersion. We investigated the influence of cell volume fraction and membrane deformability (heat treatment of the erythrocytes) on the reflectivity of the flowing suspension. This study indicates that the intercell adhesiveness and the shear stress are the only parameters that influence rouleau break-up in steady uniform shear flow, thus eliminating cell volume fraction and membrane deformability as possible factors. However, the critical cross-sectional average shear stress for near-complete cell dispersion through the flow cross-section is shown to depend on the flow pattern. The rotation of cells in a shear flow or the nonuniform shear field in Poiseuille flow indeed increases the flow resistance of cell aggregates. We give a theoretical description of the shear-induced cell disaggregation process in Couette flow and in plane Poiseuille flow. The quantitation of shear forces for cell dispersion provides a way for estimating the surface adhesive energy of the bridging membranes by fluid mechanical technique.

Apparent viscosity and particle pressure of a concentrated suspension of non-Brownian hard spheres near the jamming transition

We consider the steady shear flow of a homogeneous and dense assembly of hard spheres suspended in a Newtonian viscous fluid. In a first part, a mean-field approach based on geometric arguments is used to determine the viscous dissipation in a dense isotropic suspension of smooth hard spheres and the hydrodynamic contribution to the suspension viscosity. In a second part, we consider the coexistence of transient solid clusters coupled to regions with free flowing particles near the jamming transition. The fraction of particles in transient clusters is derived through the Landau-Ginzburg concepts for first-order phase transition with an order parameter corresponding to the proportion of “solid” contacts. A state equation for the fraction of particle-accessible volume is introduced to derive the average normal stresses and a constitutive law that relates the total shear stress to the shear rate. The analytical expression of the average normal stresses well accounts for numerical or experimental evaluation of the particle pressure and non-equilibrium osmotic pressure in a dense sheared suspension. Both the friction level between particles and the suspension dilatancy are shown to determine the singularity of the apparent shear viscosity and the flow stability near the jamming transition. The model further predicts a Newtonian behavior for a concentrated suspension of neutrally buoyant particles and no shear thinning behavior in relation with the shear liquefaction of transient solid clusters.

The flow of a very concentrated slurry in a parallel-plate device : Influence of gravity

We investigate, both experimentally and theoretically, the flow and structure of a slurry when sheared between two horizontal plates. The slurry, otherwise called “wet granular material,” is made of non-Brownian particles immersed in a viscous fluid. The particles are heavier than the immersion fluid, in contrast to the so-called “suspensions,” corresponding to density-matched fluid and particles. Consequently, gravity influences the structure and flow profiles of the sheared material. Experiments are carried out in a plane Couette device with a model slurry composed of quasimonodispersed spherical polymethylmetacrylate particles in oil, at high average solid concentration (about 59%). Optical observation reveals a typical two-phase configuration, with a fluidized layer in contact with the upper plate and on top of an amorphous solid phase. We provide data on velocity profiles, wall slip, average shear stress, and average normal stress, versus the angular velocity of the upper plate. To interpret the data...

Anisotropic scattering of light in random media: incoherent backscattered spotlight

We discuss the anisotropic scattering of unpolarized light in optically dense random media and the flux analysis of an incoherent backscattered spotlight. We present a classic statistical approach based on the photon-diffusion approximation and Monte Carlo simulations to describe the anisotropic propagation of ballistic and long-path photons in a semi-infinite random medium with internal reflections. An imagery technique with high gray-level resolution is used to measure the surface flux density in the incoherent backscattered spotlight. We investigated light scattering from homogeneous suspensions of nonspherical alumina particles in water. We analyzed the particle volume fraction and the particle-size dependence of the surface flux density to determine the transport mean free path and the optical properties of scatterers from scaling laws that account for short-path photons and internal reflections.

Stokes-Einstein diffusion of colloids in nematics

We report the experimental observation of anisotropic diffusion of polystyrene particles immersed in a lyotropic liquid crystal with two different anchoring conditions. Diffusion is shown to obey the Stokes-Einstein law for particle diameters ranging from 190 nm up to 2 μm. In the case of prolate micelles, the beads diffuse four times faster along the director than in perpendicular directions, D||/D[Symbol: see text] ≈ 4. In the theory part we present a perturbative approach to the Leslie-Ericksen equations and relate the diffusion coefficients to the Miesovicz viscosity parameters η(i). We provide explicit formulas for the cases of uniform director field and planar anchoring conditions which are then discussed in view of the data. As a general rule, we find that the inequalities η(b) D[Symbol: see text].

Influence of altered phospholipid composition of the membrane outer layer on red blood cell aggregation: relation to shape changes and glycocalyx structure

Reversible aggregation of erythrocytes was investigated after alteration of the phospholipid content in the membrane outer leaflet either by disturbance of endogenous transmembrane lipid asymmetry through changes in cellular free calcium, or by incorporation of exogenous lyso-derivatives. It was found that both calcium loading and lyso-phosphatidylcholine (LPC) addition induce a strong increase in red cell-red cell adhesive energy, whereas lyso-phosphatidylserine (LPS), added in the same amount as LPC, does not. Red cell morphological studies show differences in the shape change efficiency of LPS, LPC and calcium loading. However, it was further demonstrated that shape change is not directly responsible for the observed adhesive energy increase, since neuraminidase or trypsin treatment abolish this increase, even though the shape changes induced by alteration of phospholipid organization are not affected. The latter experiment strongly suggests that the red cell adhesive energy increase results from an alteration of the glycocalyx structure, which could be in turn a consequence of the shape change.

Optically driven oscillations of ellipsoidal particles. Part I: Experimental observations

We report experimental observations of the mechanical effects of light on ellipsoidal micrometre-sized dielectric particles, in water as the continuous medium. The particles, made of polystyrene, have shapes varying between near disk-like (aspect ratio k = 0.2 to very elongated needle-like (k = 8 . Rather than the very tightly focused beam geometry of optical tweezers, we use a moderately focused laser beam to manipulate particles individually by optical levitation. The geometry allows us varying the longitudinal position of the particle, and to capture images perpendicular to the beam axis. Experiments show that moderate-k particles are radially trapped with their long axis lying parallel to the beam. Conversely, elongated (k > 3 or flattened (k < 0.3 ellipsoids never come to rest, and permanently “dance” around the beam, through coupled translation-rotation motions. The oscillations are shown to occur in general, be the particle in bulk water or close to a solid boundary, and may be periodic or irregular. We provide evidence for two bifurcations between static and oscillating states, at k ≈ 0.33 and k ≈ 3 for oblate and prolate ellipsoids, respectively. Based on a recently developed 2-dimensional ray-optics simulation (Mihiretie et al., EPL 100, 48005 (2012)), we propose a simple model that allows understanding the physical origin of the oscillations.Graphical abstract

Settling and fluidization of non Brownian hard spheres in a viscous liquid

Abstract:A mean field approach is used to estimate the energy dissipation during the homogeneous sedimentation or the particulate fluidization of non Brownian hard spheres in a concentrated suspension of infinite extent. Depending on inertial screening and the range of the hydrodynamic interactions, the effective buoyancy force is determined either from the average suspension density in a Stokes flow or from the fluid density in the turbulent flow regime. An energy balance then yields a settling or fluidization law depending on the particle Reynolds number in reasonable agreement with the Richardson and Zaki correlation and recent experimental results for particle settling or fluidization. We further estimate the energy dissipation in the turbulent boundary layers around the particles to precise the Reynolds number dependence of the hindered settling function in the intermediate flow regime.

Multispeckle diffusing wave spectroscopy of colloidal particles suspended in a random packing of glass spheres

We use a multispeckle diffusing wave spectroscopy (MSDWS) method to study the ensemble-averaged dynamics of the fluctuating speckle pattern when illuminating colloidal particles suspended in a static and opaque porous medium with a coherent light source. Experiments were performed with Brownian latex particles in a random packing of glass spheres. The mixing of the light scattered by the moving colloidal particles and the porous matrix gives rise to a plateau value of the intensity autocorrelation function in the long-waiting-time limit. From the plateau in the correlation function, we can determine the fraction of light scattered from moving particles and estimate the photon mean free path in the colloidal solution. The method opens up promising possibilities to probe the static fraction in semisolid materials.