Flipping with the flow – Perspectives of puzzling fluid dynamics and human health

The Department of Mathematics is organising the first episode of the Distinguished Lecture Series on September 15, 2021, Wednesday, at 6.30 pm. Prof Suman Chakraborty from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Kharagpur, will deliver a lecture titled “Flipping with the Flow – Perspectives of Puzzling Fluid Dynamics and Human Health”.

Abstract of the Lecture:
Over the past century, advancements in fluid dynamics hallmarked deeper studies on complex fluids, though. Fluid dynamics of blood, possibly the most critical complex fluid impacting human lives, is primarily dictated by red blood cells (RBCs) that are flexible biconcave discs spending their lives suspended in blood plasma that is elusively more complex than simple water. Commonly, RBCs stack together to form structures called rouleaux like cylindrical packs of coins that reform continuously. Contrary to intuition, instead of clogging, such reforms result in the easier flow of blood as it passes through extremely narrow channels. An influential theoretical premise of blood flow has been rationalizing this by drawing analogies of RBCs with compound liquid droplets in which the cytoplasm is more viscous than the outer fluid that triggers a series of complex shape transitions. However, a stiffening of RBC membranes under certain conditions contradicts this analogy and may alter ATP release that happens due to shape deformation. This may signify specific diseased conditions and influence a plethora of ailments ranging from cardiovascular irregularities to cancer metastasis. The role of unique flexibility of microvasculature and morphology of the microenvironment, dynamical signals of pressure pulsation and disease-specific blood rheology make it extremely deceptive and patient-specific and difficult to model within the known territories of expertise of fluid dynamics.

Prof Suman Chakraborty will discuss here various computational, in-vitro and in-vivo studies conducted in his research group that have attempted to address some of the pertinent outstanding questions, unresolved paradoxes, and will present a deeper challenge that makes even ‘simple’ blood flow strikingly more complicated than its intuitive analogy of pipe flow in engineering fluid mechanics. He will also suggest a way forward with a convergence of physics-based modelling and data science, where blood flow is not merely perceived as an ‘inert’ physical phenomenon but recognized as an exclusive hallmark of ‘life’ with all individualism intrinsic to humans.

About the Speaker:
Prof Suman Chakraborty received the prestigious Santi Swaroop Bhatnagar Prize and became the youngest Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering. He has also been a Fellow at the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), Indian Academy of Sciences (IAS), and Indian National Academy of Science (NASI), in addition to being the recipient of the Indo-US Research Fellowship. He is also a recipient of the Scopus Young Scientist Award given by Elsevier for high citations in his research publications, the Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship (2005), and the Young Scientist/Young Engineer Award from various National Academies. He has been bestowed with the Fellowship of the American Physical Society, the Fellowship of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the Fellowship of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Join this educational session on September 15, 2021, at 6.30 pm to gain insights from the field expert.

Register here :https://srmap.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_qxuYML8uT9ayuzH1LtJO4A