Inertial migration of a deformable capsule in an oscillatory flow in a microchannel

TL;DR

This study numerically investigates how oscillatory flow affects the migration and deformation of capsules in microchannels, revealing that oscillation parameters, deformability, and flow rate influence capsule behavior and focusing.

Contribution

It introduces a numerical analysis of deformable capsule dynamics in oscillatory microchannel flow, highlighting the effects of oscillation type, deformability, and flow rate on migration patterns.

Findings

Oscillatory flow alters capsule equilibrium positions.

Capsule deformation decreases with increased flow rate and rigidity.

Oscillation amplitude diminishes as flow rate and capsule rigidity increase.

Abstract

Dynamics of a deformable capsule in an oscillatory flow of a Newtonian fluid in a microchannel has been studied numerically. The effects of oscillation frequency, capsule deformability, and channel flow rate have been explored by simulating the capsule within a microchannel. In addition, the simulation captures the effect of the type of imposed pressure oscillations on the migration pattern of the capsule. An oscillatory channel flow enables the focusing of extremely small biological particles by eliminating the need to design impractically long channels. The presented results show that the equilibrium position of the capsule changes not only by the addition of an oscillatory component to the pressure gradient, but it also is influenced by the capsule deformability and channel flow rate. Furthermore, it has been shown that the amplitude of oscillation of capsules decreases as the channel flow rate and the rigidity of the capsule increases.