Computational Two-Dimensional Finite-Element Analysis of Flow Behavior Inside Microfluidic Amplifiers

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Two-dimensional finite-element analysis was conducted using the commercial ANSYS (FLOTRAN) package to investigate nitrogen flow inside of two types of microfluidic amplifiers (wall attachment and jet deflection). Our simulations demonstrate that for supply pressures higher than 300 kPa these devices can operate with laminar flow conditions in the supply nozzle, choked flow conditions at the output of the supply nozzle and supersonic flow in the interaction region. This latter condition leads to the formation of shock waves. Although the analyzed microfluidic amplifiers present similar intemal flow behavior, the jet deflection device (with vents) has higher output velocities than the wall attachment device.

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Journal: TechConnect Briefs
Volume: Technical Proceedings of the 1998 International Conference on Modeling and Simulation of Microsystems
Published: April 6, 1998
Pages: 480 - 485
Industry sector: Sensors, MEMS, Electronics
Topic: Micro & Bio Fluidics, Lab-on-Chip
ISBN: 0-96661-35-0-3