Design of an optimized ECCA microchannel for particle manipulation utilizing dean flow coupled elasto-inertial method

In this paper, an Eulerian-Lagrangian simulation was conducted to achieve optimal Expanded-Contracted Cavity Arrays microchannel. First, a new code was developed to solve the viscoelastic flow field, and then the particles were solved by adding appropriate forces to the OpenFOAM Lagrangian solver. This code was then validated for both Eulerian and Lagrangian models. Subsequently, the effect of different parameters such as flow rate, distance from the inlet, cavity depth and distance, and particle size were also studied to obtain the proper geometry for particle focusing. Finally, the selected channel was integrated with a straight channel to separate 4.8 and 13 mu m particles. The results of current research can be used to find a proper design of an Expanded-Contracted Cavity Arrays channel to achieve precise focusing and efficient, continuous, and sheathless particle/cell separation, which is much worthy for applications such as high-speed cytometry, cell counting, sorting, and many biological applications. (C) 2021 The Society of Powder Technology Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. and The Society of Powder Technology Japan. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study conducted an Eulerian-Lagrangian simulation to optimize Expanded-Contracted Cavity Arrays microchannels, developed a new code for solving viscoelastic flow fields, and validated it for both Eulerian and Lagrangian models. By studying the effects of different parameters, the proper geometry for particle focusing was determined, leading to successful particle separation.