|Andrew Spann |
Stanford email: spann
Undergraduate Institution: MIT
Department: Computational & Mathematical Engineering
Andrew Spann's CV
I use parallel multi-processor computer simulations to answer questions about the physics of fluid flow in scenarios made complex by situations such as having deformable objects, being far from a spherical limit, and having multi-body interactions. So far I have worked on lipid bilayer vesicles and suspensions of platelets and red blood cells, and I am broadly interested in low Reynolds number complex flow problems and microfluidics as well.
Subdivision surfaces for low reduced volume ratio vesicle rheology
Vesicles are membrane-bound capsules with drug delivery applications. Vesicle problems are more difficult than drop dynamics due to having a membrane bending energy that is a nonlinear function of curvature and having surface area and volume conservation constraints. My research uses Loop subdivision surfaces for boundary integral methods to understand the behavior of highly non-spherical vesicles in flow. In particular I've looked at the fluid motion of low reduced volume vesicles in shear flow, the effect of nearby walls on stabilizing tumbling behaviors and changing the stresses seen by the vesicle, and the dynamics of unstable vesicle elongation in extensional flow.
Suspensions of red blood cells and platelets
My current research investigates the effect of reduced hematocrit (red blood cell volume) on platelet adhesion in a microfluidic channel. I've integrated adhesion dynamics into our group's boundary integral simulations and our next step is to improve scalability of the code by implementing fast direct O(N) approximate solver techniques developed by the Darve group.
Personal site: Former (undergraduate) COMAP Mathematical Contest in Modeling papers, Proof of False math comic
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