Issue 7, 2008

Effect of viscoelasticity on the flow pattern and the volumetric flow rate in electroosmotic flows through a microchannel

Abstract

Many lab-on-a-chip based microsystems process biofluids such as blood and DNA solutions. These fluids are viscoelastic and show extraordinary flow behaviors, not existing in Newtonian fluids. Adopting appropriate constitutive equations these exotic flow behaviors can be modeled and predicted reasonably using various numerical methods. In the present paper, we investigate viscoelastic electroosmotic flows through a rectangular straight microchannel with and without pressure gradient. It is shown that the volumetric flow rates of viscoelastic fluids are significantly different from those of Newtonian fluids under the same external electric field and pressure gradient. Moreover, when pressure gradient is imposed on the microchannel there appear appreciable secondary flows in the viscoelastic fluids, which is never possible for Newtonian laminar flows through straight microchannels. The retarded or enhanced volumetric flow rates and secondary flows affect dispersion of solutes in the microchannel nontrivially.

Graphical abstract: Effect of viscoelasticity on the flow pattern and the volumetric flow rate in electroosmotic flows through a microchannel

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
07 Jan 2008
Accepted
17 Apr 2008
First published
15 May 2008

Lab Chip, 2008,8, 1163-1170

Effect of viscoelasticity on the flow pattern and the volumetric flow rate in electroosmotic flows through a microchannel

H. M. Park and W. M. Lee, Lab Chip, 2008, 8, 1163 DOI: 10.1039/B800185E

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