Alarcon V.J., Kingery W., Zhu J.
Mississippi State University, US
Keywords: flow-through reactor, lab-on-a-chip, microchannel, Multiphysics Simulation, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), thermocycling
Estimations of apparent diffusion coefficients usually consist of curve-fitting the output of one-dimensional models to experimental laboratory-measured data from porous aggregates shaped in different forms. In this research a computational exploration is presented on the alternative use of three-dimensional models for the same purpose. Saturated conditions and absence of retention mechanisms for the solute were assumed. The outputs of the three di-mensional models were averaged and compared to the results generated by the one-dimensional formulations. The comparison showed that there are signifi-cant discrepancies in the concentration values output by the models. Percent differences ranging from 30 to 90% were calculated. Those different estima-tions suggest that different values of the apparent diffusion coefficient may be obtained if the three-dimensional solution of the diffusion equation would be used to match experimental results.
Journal: TechConnect Briefs
Volume: 2, Technical Proceedings of the 2006 NSTI Nanotechnology Conference and Trade Show, Volume 2
Published: May 7, 2006
Pages: 593 - 597
Industry sectors: Medical & Biotech | Sensors, MEMS, Electronics
Topic: Micro & Bio Fluidics, Lab-on-Chip
ISBN: 0-9767985-7-3