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Thin-film flow and particle sorting in a curved duct.

Banff International Research Station for Mathematical Innovation and Discovery

Asymptotic methods yield an efficient leading-order model of flow along a thin curved duct. The flow consists of a primary axial component along the duct and, because of the curvature, a secondary âDean flowâ in the cross section. Such flows are used in microfluidics to sort suspended particles by size; an important application is âliquid biopsyâ, the isolation of a particular cell type within a (dilute) cell suspension. A description of the background flow, in the absence of particles, is pre-requisite to modelling the perturbation caused by a particle and the migration of the particle within the duct cross-section. I will discuss the suitability of a thin-film model for this purpose. Time permitting, I will also discuss the use of asymptotic methods for modelling of particle migration.

Mathematics; Fluid mechanics; Approximations and expansions; Fluid dynamics

video/mp4

Author affiliation: University of Adelaide

2019-10-28

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/72084

Unreviewed

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/