Project Abstract:

The research focuses on the understanding and the development of theoretical and numerical model to described dispersion of passive solute in microfluidic device for Newtonian fluid under pressure driven flow. The results will have a direct application to analytical and bioanalytical chemistry. Analytical modeling will be employed to consider the axial dispersion of a solute along the flow direction, to simulate convection and diffusion transport in a pressure driven creeping flow for a rectangular shape slit. This represents the first effort in applying the lubrication approximation and averaging methods to the analysis of analyte concentration in microfluidic slit device, taking consideration of Taylor’s dispersion. It now opens the door for optimization for such devices. Future plan is to extend the model for non-Newtonian flow, electrokinetic driven flow, and combination of pressure driven and electrokinetic driven flow.