Computational Methods and Models in Circulatory and Reproductive Systems

The circulatory and reproductive systems can be considered as tubular transport systems of blood cells and gametes, respectively. Both systems involve complex flows and fluid-structure interactions of large displacements and large deformations. In addition, multiple scales and multiple processes need to be considered. Because of their importance in health and fundamentals, great effort has been put in developing numerical methods for these systems and in understanding the underlying flow physics. In spite of the many achievements, it is still a challenge to model these systems accurately using numerical methods. Moreover, there still remains much concerted development towards grasping the complicated flow physics within such systems by using advanced numerical methods and mathematical models. Therefore, the goal of this special issue was to collect together recent contributions on the development of numerical methods for complex flows and fluid-structure interaction in circulatory and reproductive systems and/or on addressing the complicated flow physics and heat and mass transfer in these systems for fundamental understanding as well as engineering applications. The papers can be divided into three groups as detailed below.