Abstract

The primary concern in this paper is to develop a mathematical model for studying the mass flux and hematocrit reduction due to plasma skimming in a capillary emerging from an artery making an angle with the parent artery. The flow is considered to be steady, having three phases – the peripheral plasma layer, the cell depleted middle layer and the core region where the concentration of erythrocytes is highest. The study has been performed by considering Womeresely parameter to be small (less than unity) for coronary arteries as well as small vessels of the circulatory system. The theoretical estimates computed under the purview of the present mathematical analysis reveal that hematocrit in the branch capillary decreases with an increase in the field stress of blood for any branching angle. Further, erythrocytes entrainment from the parent artery to the branch capillary is least when the branch in perpendicular to the parent artery

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