Non-inertial hydrodynamics of manipulating particle transport

TL;DR

This paper investigates the hydrodynamic mechanisms behind particle deflection in non-inertial microfluidic flows, aiming to clarify how particles are manipulated in low Reynolds number environments used in biomedical applications.

Contribution

It provides a systematic analysis of particle transport in non-inertial flows, highlighting the hydrodynamic effects responsible for particle deflection in microfluidic obstacle arrays.

Findings

Hydrodynamic interactions cause particle deflection in Stokes flows.

Flow symmetry breaking influences particle trajectories.

Hydrodynamic effects are key in non-inertial particle manipulation.

Abstract

Inspired by numerous lab on a chip, biomedical and bioengineering applications such as cell sorting, focusing, trapping, and filtering of particles, manipulation of micron sized particle trajectories has been of significant interest in the context of microfluidics. Systematic deflection of microparticles away from their initial streamlines is a central objective in microfluidic particle manipulation. In many widely used microfluidic platforms including deterministic lateral displacement (DLD) devices, density matched, force free particles suspended in low Reynolds number flows encounter arrays of obstacles that potentially breaks the flow symmetry and alter their trajectories. Despite the prevalence of these devices, the physical mechanism responsible for particle deflection from encountering obstacle wall in strictly non inertial flows (Stokes flows) remains incompletely understood and is often attributed to short range contact interactions rather than hydrodynamic effects.