Résumé
Von Willebrand factor (VWF) is a large multimeric mechano-sensing protein found in blood, which plays a key role in shear-induced platelet aggregation (SIPA).Under high shear rates (> 1500 s-1 [1]), VWF transitions from a resting “globular” conformation to a filamentlike unfolded conformation due to hydrodynamic forces.When unfolded and exposed to sufficient flow-induced tension [2], VWF becomes activated and binds to platelets, slowing them down and initiating their adhesion. While many studies have explored platelet adhesion on structured artificial surfaces in the absence of flow [3], SIPA on structured surfaces is yet to be investigated. The present work uses numericalsimulations to investigate the key step of SIPA, namely VWF deployment under shear flow.