Particle manipulation by hydrodynamic effects in vortical Stokes flow

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteur principal: Liu, Xuchen
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
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author Liu, Xuchen
author_facet Liu, Xuchen
contents The main motivation of this work is the quantitative prediction and description of particle manipulation (displacement across streamlines) in microfluidic flow. Much attention has been paid recently to placing particles in fast oscillatory flow fields, usually driven by microbubbles actuated by low-frequency ultrasound, where particle inertia leads to deterministic displacements. However, such devices invariably set up simultaneous streaming flows that are interpretable as driven Stokes flows. The potential role of these flows in not just passively transporting but likewise manipulating the particles has not been appreciated. Therefore, we investigate whether a Stokes flow by itself can meaningfully affect the displacement of a single particle or a rigid dumbbell, given the properties and symmetries of the flow. To manipulate a single particle, its hydrodynamic interaction with a nearby boundary is crucial for obtaining non-trivial results. To irreversibly displace a particle using this effect, we find that the flow symmetry must be broken in specified ways. Controlling the flow geometry, one can drive particles to fixed points, cycles, or towards boundaries, with the possibility of controlling eventual attachment (sticking) of the particle. For rigid dumbbell particles, we show that such controlled displacement in Stokes flow is possible even without the presence of nearby boundaries, but again with requirements on the broken symmetry of the chosen flow. In practical microfluidic devices, these effects could be set up in manifold ways, by themselves or in combination with inertial forces for more versatile particle manipulation.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_03894
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Particle manipulation by hydrodynamic effects in vortical Stokes flow
Liu, Xuchen
Fluid Dynamics
The main motivation of this work is the quantitative prediction and description of particle manipulation (displacement across streamlines) in microfluidic flow. Much attention has been paid recently to placing particles in fast oscillatory flow fields, usually driven by microbubbles actuated by low-frequency ultrasound, where particle inertia leads to deterministic displacements. However, such devices invariably set up simultaneous streaming flows that are interpretable as driven Stokes flows. The potential role of these flows in not just passively transporting but likewise manipulating the particles has not been appreciated. Therefore, we investigate whether a Stokes flow by itself can meaningfully affect the displacement of a single particle or a rigid dumbbell, given the properties and symmetries of the flow. To manipulate a single particle, its hydrodynamic interaction with a nearby boundary is crucial for obtaining non-trivial results. To irreversibly displace a particle using this effect, we find that the flow symmetry must be broken in specified ways. Controlling the flow geometry, one can drive particles to fixed points, cycles, or towards boundaries, with the possibility of controlling eventual attachment (sticking) of the particle. For rigid dumbbell particles, we show that such controlled displacement in Stokes flow is possible even without the presence of nearby boundaries, but again with requirements on the broken symmetry of the chosen flow. In practical microfluidic devices, these effects could be set up in manifold ways, by themselves or in combination with inertial forces for more versatile particle manipulation.
title Particle manipulation by hydrodynamic effects in vortical Stokes flow
topic Fluid Dynamics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.03894