Paper Number
BF19 

Session
Biomaterials and Bio-fluid Dynamics

Title
Numerical study of the competitive effects of inertial and elastic forces on cell deformation and cross-streamline migration in microfluidic flows

Presentation Date and Time
October 11, 2022 (Tuesday) 4:05

Track / Room
Track 4 / Michigan AB

Authors (Click on name to view author profile)

  1. Esposito, Giancarlo (University of Patras)
  2. Hulsen, Martien A. (Eindhoven University of Technology)
  3. D'Avino, Gaetano (University of Naples Italy)
  4. Villone, Massimiliano M. (University of Naples Federico II)

Author and Affiliation Lines (in printed abstract book)
Giancarlo Esposito1, Martien A. Hulsen2, Gaetano D'Avino3 and Massimiliano M. Villone3
1University of Patras, Patras, Greece; 2Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands; 3University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy

Speaker / Presenter 
Villone, Massimiliano M.

Keywords
computational methods; bio-fluids; suspensions

Text of Abstract
The flow dynamics of suspensions in microfluidic channels depends on the interplay among several parameters, such as the flow rate and the rheology of the suspending fluid, wall effects, inertial effects, and particle deformability. The manipulation of such parameters can allow to control the trajectories of the suspended particles, thus achieving their focusing and/or sorting. When inertial forces are negligible, a neutrally buoyant deformable particle migrates orthogonally to the flow direction until reaching the centerline of the channel [1]. Outside the Stokes regime, the cross-streamline migration and final equilibrium position of a deformable particle in the channel cross-section depend on the interplay between inertial and elastic forces. In the recent years, elasto-inertial microfluidics is emerging as a powerful tool to achieve efficient particle focusing and/or sorting by proper tuning of the geometrical and process parameters [2], with important applications in the biomedical field. In this study, we employ fully three-dimensional finite-element direct numerical simulations to investigate the dynamics of cells suspended in a Newtonian liquid undergoing pressure-driven flow at non-negligible inertia in microfluidic channels, with the purpose of elucidating the mutual, and competing, effects of fluid inertia and cell elasticity on cell cross-streamline migration. [1] M.M. Villone and P.L. Maffettone, Rheol. Acta 58:109 (2019) [2] D. Stoecklein and D. Di Carlo, Anal. Chem. 91:296 (2018)