An integrated microfluidic device for characterizing chondrocyte metabolism in response to distinct levels of fluid flow stimulus

In this work, we presented a novel integrated microfluidic perfusion system to generate multiple parameter fluid flow-induced shear stresses simultaneously and investigated the effects of distinct levels of fluid flow stimulus on the responses of chondrocytes, including the changes of morphology and metabolism. Based on the electric circuit analogy, two devices were fabricated, each with four chambers to enable eight different shear stresses spanning over four orders of magnitude from 0.007 to 15.4 dyne/cm² with computational fluid dynamics analysis. Chondrocytes subjected to shear stresses (7.5 and 15.4 dyne/cm²) for 24 h reoriented their cytoskeleton to align with the direction of flow. Meanwhile, the collagen I, collagen II and aggrecan expression of chondrocytes increased in different ranges, respectively. Furthermore, interleukin-6 as a proinflammatory cytokine can be detected at shear stress of 7.5 and 15.4 dyne/cm² in mRNA level. These results indicated that fluid flow was beneficial for chondrocyte metabolism at interstitial levels (0.007 and 0.046 dyne/cm²), but induced an increase in fibrocartilage phenotype with increasing magnitude of stimulation. Moreover, a moderate level of flow stimulus (7.5 dyne/cm²) could also result in detrimental cytokine release. This work described a simple and versatile way to rapidly screen cell responses to fluid flow stimulus from interstitial shear stress level to pathological level, providing multi-condition fluid flow-induced microenvironment in vitro for understanding deeply chondrocyte metabolism, cartilage reconstruction and osteoarthritis etiology.     

Fluid rheological effects on particle migration in a straight rectangular microchannel

There has recently been a significantly increasing interest in the passive manipulation of particles in the flow of non-Newtonian fluids through microchannels. However, an accurate and comprehensive understanding of the various fluid rheological effects on particle migration is still largely missing. We present in this work a systematic experimental study of both the individual and the combined effects of fluid inertia, elasticity, and shear thinning on the motion of rigid spherical particles in a straight rectangular microchannel. We first study the sole effect of each of these rheological properties in a Newtonian fluid, purely elastic (i.e., Boger) fluid, and purely shear-thinning (i.e., pseudoplastic) fluid, respectively. We then study the combined effects of two or all of these rheological properties in a pseudoplastic fluid and two types of elastic shear-thinning fluids, respectively. We find that the fluid elasticity effect directs particles toward the centerline of the channel while the fluid shear-thinning effect causes particle migration toward both the centerline and corners. These two effects are combined with the fluid inertial effect to understand the particle migration in inertial pseudoplastic and viscoelastic fluid flows.     

Wall polymer depletion effects on electrokinetic diffusioosmosis of power-law liquids in cylindrical capillaries

We investigate electrokinetic diffusioosmotic flows of power-law liquids including the effects of a polymer-depleted Newtonian liquid layer near the wall boundaries in circular cylindrical capillaries. Semi-analytical solutions to the flow velocity distribution and volume flow rate are obtained for conditions involving finite double layer effects on the induced electric field of the electrokinetic diffusioosmosis. Results show that the flow behavior and responses of the electrokinetic diffusioosmotic flow depend not only on the wall zeta potential, diffusivity difference parameter, and flow behavior index, but also on the depletion layer thickness to Debye thickness ratio, the ratio of the flow consistency parameter of the power-law liquid core to the viscosity of the Newtonian depletion layer, as well as the exact numeric values of the flow consistency parameter and the Newtonian viscosity. Including the Newtonian depletion layer gives rise to wiggled-shaped zero flow rate border curves on the zeta potential versus diffusivity difference parameter map when the depletion layer thickness to Debye thickness ratio and the ratio of the flow consistency parameter of the power-law liquid core to the viscosity of the Newtonian depletion layer are close to one. These results are not identified in previous Newtonian or non-Newtonian electrokinetic diffusioosmosis literature and may likely open new possibilities and suggest new ideas in the analysis and design of diffusiophoretic separation and diffusioosmotic flow operations.     

Critical conditions and breakup of non-squashed microconfined droplets: effects of fluid viscoelasticity

Droplet breakup in systems with either a viscoelastic matrix or a viscoelastic droplet is studied microscopically in bulk and confined shear flow, using a parallel plate counter rotating shear flow cell. The ratio of droplet diameter to gap spacing is systematically varied between 0.1 and 0.85. In bulk shear flow, the effects of matrix and droplet viscoelasticity on the critical capillary number for breakup are very moderate under the studied conditions. However, in confined conditions a profoundly different behaviour is observed: the critical capillary numbers of a viscoelastic droplet are similar to those of a Newtonian droplet, whereas matrix viscoelasticity causes breakup at a much lower capillary number. The critical capillary numbers are compared with the predictions of a phenomenological model by Minale et al. (Langmuir 26:126–132, 2010); the model results are in qualitative disagreement with the experimental data. It is also found that the critical dimensionless droplet length, the critical capillary number, and the dimensionless droplet length at breakup show a similar dependency on confinement ratio. As a result, confined droplets in a viscoelastic matrix have a smaller dimensionless length at breakup than droplets in a Newtonian matrix, which affects the breakup mode. Whereas confined droplets in a Newtonian matrix can break up into multiple parts, only two daughter droplets are obtained after breakup in a viscoelastic matrix, up to very large confinement ratios.     

Effect of doping ferrocene in the working fluid of electrohydrodynamic (EHD) micropumps

The effect of doping ferrocene in the working fluid of electrohydrodynamic micropumps was investigated under the application of DC electric fields. The micropump consisted of 100 planar electrode pairs that were embedded along the bottom wall of a 100-micron-high, 5-mm-wide and 26-mm-long microchannel. The width of the emitter and collector electrodes was 20 and 40 µm, respectively, with inter-electrode spacing of 30 µm. A redox dopant, ferrocene, was diffused homogeneously into the working fluid HFE-7100 at 0.05, 0.1 and 0.2 % concentration by weight. The static pressure head generation and flow rate at different back pressure conditions were measured under different applied DC voltages. The current and pressure generated with the doped working fluid were significantly higher than with pure HFE-7100 under an applied DC field. A maximum static pressure of 6.7 kPa and flow rate of 0.47 mL/min at no back pressure were achieved at 700 V.     

Non-Newtonian effects of blood flow in complete coronary and femoral bypasses

A numerical investigation of non-Newtonian steady blood flow in a complete idealized 3D bypass model with occluded native artery is presented in order to study the non-Newtonian effects for two different sets of physiological parameters (artery diameter and inlet Reynolds number), which correspond to average coronary and femoral native arteries. Considering the blood to be a generalized Newtonian fluid, the shear-dependent viscosity is evaluated using the Carreau–Yasuda model. All numerical simulations are performed by an incompressible Navier–Stokes solver developed by the authors, which is based on the pseudo-compressibility approach and the cell-centred finite volume method defined on unstructured hexahedral computational grid. For the time integration, the fourth-stage Runge–Kutta algorithm is used. The analysis of numerical results obtained for the non-Newtonian and Newtonian flows through the coronary and femoral bypasses is focused on the distribution of velocity and wall shear stress in the entire length of the computational model, which consists of the proximal and distal native artery and the connected end-to-side bypass graft.     

Flow-induced deformation of compliant microchannels and its effect on pressure–flow characteristics

We report theoretical and experimental investigations of flow through compliant microchannels in which one of the walls is a thin PDMS membrane. A theoretical model is derived that provides an insight into the physics of the coupled fluid–structure interaction. For a fixed channel size, flow rate and fluid viscosity, a compliance parameter \(f_{\text{p}}\) is identified, which controls the pressure–flow characteristics. The pressure and deflection profiles and pressure–flow characteristics of the compliant microchannels are predicted using the model and compared with experimental data, which show good agreement. The pressure–flow characteristics of the compliant microchannel are compared with that obtained for an identical conventional (rigid) microchannel. For a fixed channel size and flow rate, the effect of fluid viscosity and compliance parameter \(f_{\text{p}}\) on the pressure drop is predicted using the theoretical model, which successfully confront experimental data. The pressure–flow characteristics of a non-Newtonian fluid (0.1 % polyethylene oxide solution) through the compliant and conventional (rigid) microchannels are experimentally measured and compared. The results reveal that for a given change in the flow rate, the corresponding modification in the viscosity due to the shear thinning effect determines the change in the pressure drop in such microchannels.     

A high-shear, low Reynolds number microfluidic rheometer

We present a microfluidic rheometer that uses in situ pressure sensors to measure the viscosity of liquids at low Reynolds number. Viscosity is measured in a long, straight channel using a PDMS-based microfluidic device that consists of a channel layer and a sensing membrane integrated with an array of piezoresistive pressure sensors via plasma surface treatment. The micro-pressure sensor is fabricated using conductive particles/PDMS composites. The sensing membrane maps pressure differences at various locations within the channel in order to measure the fluid shear stress in situ at a prescribed shear rate to estimate the fluid viscosity. We find that the device is capable to measure the viscosity of both Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids for shear rates up to 10⁴ s^?1 while keeping the Reynolds number well below 1.     

Erosion–corrosion synergism in an alumina/sea water nanofluid

Since nanofluids increase the thermal conductivity of a fluid mixture compared with the base fluid, it is important to investigate any damaging effects caused by the presence of the solid particles. Thus, this paper explores the nanofluid synergistic effects produced by the addition of 1 g dm^?3 Al₂O₃ nanoparticles to sea water and compares the performance with the base fluid without nanoparticles. Studies are conducted on carbon steel, using a hydrodynamically smooth-rotating cylinder electrode in turbulent flow at 298 K. The pure corrosion rate and erosion rate of carbon steel in the fluids free of nanoparticles are, respectively, higher (up to 82 %) and lower (ca. 11 %) than in the nanofluids. The synergistic effect of erosion and corrosion in a nanofluid is much higher (up to 237 %) than in the base fluid. These results indicate that the presence of nanoparticles in a flowing fluid could lead to considerable rates of material loss.     

Blood flow through a stenosed catheterized artery: Effects of hematocrit and stenosis shape

The problem of blood flow through a narrow catheterized artery with an axially nonsymmetrical stenosis has been investigated. Blood is represented by a two-phase macroscopic model, i.e., a suspension of erythrocytes (red cells) in plasma (Newtonian fluid). The coupled differential equations for both fluid (plasma) and particle (erythrocyte) phases have been solved and the expression for the flow characteristics, namely, the flow rate, the impedance (resistance to flow), the wall shear stress and the shear stress at the stenosis throat have been derived. It is found that the impedance increases with the catheter size, the hematocrit and the stenosis size (height and length) but decreases with the shape parameter. A significant increase in the magnitude of the impedance and the wall shear stress occurs even for a small increase in the catheter size. The flow resistance increases and the shear stress at the stenosis throat decreases with the increasing catheter size and assume an asymptotic value at about the catheter size half of the artery size.     

Liquid flow through a diverging microchannel

In this work, experiments and three-dimensional numerical calculations of fluid flow through diverging microchannels were carried out with the aim of bringing out differences between flow in uniform and nonuniform passages. Deionized water was used as the working fluid in the experiments where the effects of mass flow rate (8.33 × 10^?6 to 8.33 × 10^?5 kg/s), microchannel hydraulic diameter (118–177 µm), length (10–30 mm) and divergence angle (4°–16°) on pressure drop were studied. The results are analyzed in detail with the help of numerical data. The pressure drop exhibits a linear dependence on the mass flow rate, whereas it is inversely proportional to the divergence angle and square of the hydraulic diameter. The pressure drop increases anomalously at 16°, suggesting that flow reversal occurs between 12° and 16°, which agrees with the corresponding value at the conventional scale. For the purpose of predicting pressure drop using straight microchannel theory, an equivalent hydraulic diameter was defined. It is observed that the equivalent hydraulic diameter, located at one-third of the diverging microchannel length from the inlet, becomes mostly independent of the mass flow rate, microchannel hydraulic diameter, length and divergence angle. The pressure drop for a diverging microchannel becomes equal to an equivalent hydraulic diameter uniform cross-section microchannel, suggesting that conventional correlations for straight microchannels can also be applied to diverging microchannels. The data presented in this work are of fundamental importance and can help in optimization of diffuser design used for example in valveless micropumps.     

Analysis of pressure-driven electrokinetic flows in hydrophobic microchannels with slip-dependent zeta potential

The present study is an analysis of pressure-driven electrokinetic flows in hydrophobic microchannels with emphasis on the slip effects under coupling of interfacial electric and fluid slippage phenomena. Commonly used linear model with slip-independent zeta potential and the nonlinear model at limiting (high-K) condition with slip-dependent zeta potential are solved analytically. Then, numerical solutions of the electrokinetic flow model with zeta potential varying with slip length are analyzed. Different from the general notion of “the more hydrophobic the channel wall, the higher the flowrate,” the results with slip-independent and slip-dependent zeta potentials both disclose that flowrate becomes insensitive to the wall hydrophobicity or fluid slippage at sufficiently large slip lengths. Boundary slip not only assists fluid motion but also enhances counter-ions transport in EDL and, thus, results in strong streaming potential as well as electrokinetic retardation. With slip-dependent zeta potential considered, flowrate varies non-monotonically with increasing slip length due to competition of the favorable and adverse effects with more complicated interactions. The influence of the slip on the electrokinetic flow is eventually nullified at large slip lengths for balance of the counter effects, and the flowrate becomes insensitive to further hydrophobicity of the microchannel. The occurrence of maximum, minimum, and insensitivity on the flowrate-slip curves can be premature at a higher zeta potential and/or larger electrokinetic separation distance.     

CFD analysis of viscous non-Newtonian flow under the influence of a superimposed rotational vibration

The effects of a superimposed sinusoidal rotational vibration on the flow of non-Newtonian fluids in a tube are studied numerically by computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Inelastic time-independent fluids of the power law, Herschel-Bulkley, Bingham plastic, and Newtonian types are investigated. Newtonian flow is unchanged by any superimposed oscillations but the flow of non-Newtonian fluids is greatly affected. The flow of shear-thinning fluids and viscoplastic fluids is enhanced, whilst the flow of shear-thickening fluids is retarded. The effects of the various rheological as well as vibration parameters are studied in detail. Flow is affected by both vibration frequency and amplitude, but different amplitude-frequency combinations which correspond to the same peak acceleration result in the same effect. Mechanical vibration in the sonic range generates substantial flow enhancements in low to moderately viscous fluids, but has limited scope for highly viscous fluids. Mechanical vibration in the ultrasound range, however, has a good potential for the processing of highly viscous materials, being able to generate orders of magnitude enhancement in flow. The extent of flow enhancement achieved is also dependent on the nature of the superimposed vibration: a rotational oscillation produces more flow enhancement than a transversal oscillation, but less than a longitudinal oscillation.     

Output pressure and efficiency of electrokinetic pumping of non-Newtonian fluids

Theoretical expressions of the flow rate, output pressure and thermodynamic efficiency of electrokinetic pumping of non-Newtonian fluids through cylindrical and slit microchannels are reported. Calculations are carried out in the framework of continuum fluid mechanics. The constitutive model of Ostwald-de Waele (power law) is used to express the fluid shear stress in terms of the velocity gradient. The resulting equations of flow rate and electric current are nonlinear functions of the electric potential and pressure gradients. The fact that the microstructure of non-Newtonian fluids is altered at solid–liquid interfaces is taken into account. In the case of fluids with wall depletion, both the output pressure and efficiency are found to be several times higher than that obtained with simple electrolytes under the same experimental conditions. Apart from potential applications in electrokinetic pumps, these predictions are of interest for the design of microfluidic devices that manipulate non-Newtonian fluids such as polymer solutions and colloidal suspensions. From a more fundamental point of view, the paper discusses a relevant example of nonlinear electrokinetics.     

突扩管中非牛顿流体的非对称流动

研究了恒定剪切速率下的不可压缩非牛顿流体在突扩管中的流动行为,通过给定突扩管的前后管的直径比来观察流动现象,突扩管流动中的分歧流动是一个普遍现象,早先课题组已经用水作为试验来验证模型的正确性,通过使用Herschel-Bulkley模犁对于非牛顿流体进行模拟,模拟结果使用流线、分歧图表、回流区、压力分布和流速分布来分析.     

Two-phase AC electrothermal fluidic pumping in a coplanar asymmetric electrode array

The ability to achieve fast fluid flow yet maintain a relatively low temperature rise is important for AC electrothermal (ACET) micropumping, especially in applications such as bioMEMS and lab-on-a-chip systems. In this paper, we propose a two-phase ACET fluidic micropump using a coplanar asymmetric electrode array. The proposed structure applies a two-phase AC voltage, i.e., voltage of phase 0°/180°, to the narrow electrodes while the wide electrodes are at ground potential. Numerical simulation demonstrates that this simple coplanar electrode configuration can achieve at least 25% faster fluid flow rates than using a single AC signal. By selecting certain design parameters, a two-phase ACET structure can achieve up to 50% faster fluid flow rates than a corresponding single-phase structure. The simple two-phase AC signal sources are easily produced by using inverter buffers, which is a considerable improvement compared to the multi-phase AC signals required by other electrokinetic micropumping methods, such as traveling wave structures.     

Effect of the skimming layer on electro-osmotic��Poiseuille flows of viscoelastic fluids

An analytical solution is derived for the micro-channel flow of viscoelastic fluids by combined electro-osmosis and pressure gradient forcing. The viscoelastic fluid is described by the Phan-Thien–Tanner model with due account for the near-wall layer depleted of macromolecules. This skimming layer is wider than the electric double layer (EDL) and leads to an enhanced flow rate relative to that of the corresponding uniform concentration flow case. The derived solution allows a detailed investigation of the flow characteristics due to the combined effects of fluid rheology, forcing strengths ratio, skimming layer thickness and relative rheology of the two fluids. In particular, when the EDL is much thinner than the skimming layer and simultaneously the viscosity of the Newtonian fluid inside this layer is much lower than that of the fluid outside, the flow is dominated by the characteristics of the Newtonian fluid. Outside these conditions, proper account of the various fluid layers and their properties must be considered for an accurate prediction of the flow characteristics. The analytical solution remains valid for the flow driven by a pressure gradient and its streaming potential, which is determined in the appendix.     

Transport of multicomponent,multivalent electrolyte solutions across nanocapillaries

Electrokinetic transport of aqueous solutions containing multiple ionic species in surface charge governed nanofluidic flows has seen limited investigation with most experimental and modeling efforts emphasizing symmetric, monovalent electrolytes. In this work, numerical models coupling steady-state Poisson–Nernst–Planck and Stokes equations along with experimental investigations were developed to characterize electrokinetic transport of potassium phosphate buffer, containing K⁺, H₂PO₄ ^?, and HPO₄ ^2? across positively charged nanocapillary array membranes with 10 nm diameter nanocapillaries, sandwiched between a source and permeate reservoir. While systematically increasing phosphate buffer concentration from 0.2 to 10 mM, 0.14 mM of methylene blue (MB) dye was added to the source reservoir to study the dominating transport mechanism under a potential bias (0–0.75 V). Experiments provided validation of numerical results that elucidate fundamental transport mechanisms as a function of ion type, buffer concentration, and externally applied potential. The nanocapillary exhibits permselectivity toward anions at lower buffer concentrations (0.2, 1 mM) and was more selective for HPO₄ ^2? in comparison with H₂PO₄ ^?. Transport of K⁺, H₂PO₄ ^?, and HPO₄ ^2? was dominated by electromigration, with negligible effects of diffusion and convection at all buffer concentrations. However, transport of MB⁺ was dominated by diffusion at 0.2 mM buffer concentration under all potential bias conditions. Significant effects of electromigration appeared at high potential biases (0.5–0.75 V) for 1 and 10 mM bulk buffer concentrations. Additionally, in the multicomponent ion system, at all concentrations, the vast majority of the current was carried by the phosphate buffer ions and not the MB ions.     

The impact of side walls on the MHD flow of a second-grade fluid through a porous medium

The magnetohydrodynamic flow through a porous medium of a second-grade fluid between two side walls induced by an infinite plate that exerts an accelerated shear stress to the fluid over an infinite plate is examined. Expressions for velocity and shear stress are determined with the help of integral transforms. In the absence of side walls, all the solutions that have been obtained are reduced to those corresponding to the motion over an infinite flat plate. The Newtonian solutions are also obtained as limiting case of the general solution. Finally, influence of magnetic and porosity parameter is graphically highlighted.

     

A parallel workload balanced and memory efficient lattice-Boltzmann algorithm with single unit BGK relaxation time for laminar Newtonian flows

A parallel workload balanced and memory efficient lattice-Boltzmann algorithm for laminar Newtonian fluid flow through large porous media is investigated. It relies on a simplified LBM scheme using a single unit BGK relaxation time, which is implemented by means of a shift algorithm and comprises an even fluid node partitioning domain decomposition strategy based on a vector data structure. It provides perfect parallel workload balance, and its two-nearest-neighbour communication pattern combined with a simple data transfer layout results in 20-55% lower communication cost, 25-60% higher computational parallel performance and 40-90% lower memory usage than previously reported LBM algorithms. Performance tests carried out using scale-up and speed-up case studies of laminar Newtonian fluid flow through hexagonal packings of cylinders and a random packing of polydisperse spheres on two different computer architectures reveal parallel efficiencies with 128 processors as high as 75% for domain sizes comprising more than 5 billion fluid nodes.