  Soft particles suspended in fluids flowing through microchannels are often
encountered in biological flows such as cells in vessels. They can deform under
flow or when subject to mechanical stresses as they interact with themselves.
Deformability adds distinct characteristics to the nature of the flow of these
particles. We simulate deformable particles suspended in a fluid at a high
volume fraction flowing through a 3D wetting channel. We find a discontinuous
shear thinning transition, which depends on the particle deformability. The
capillary number is the main parameter that controls the transition. We also
notice significant differences in the velocity profiles when compared to their
2D counterpart. To obtain these results, we improved and extended to 3D a
multicomponent Lattice Boltzmann method which prevents the coalescence between
the droplets.
