Inertial migration of a deformable capsule in an oscillatory flow in a microchannel

Abstract: Dynamics of a deformable capsule in an oscillatory flow of a Newtonian fluid in a microchannel has been studied numerically. The effects of oscillation frequency, capsule deformability, and channel flow rate have been explored by simulating the capsule within a microchannel. In addition, the simulation captures the effect of the type of imposed pressure oscillations on the migration pattern of the capsule. An oscillatory channel flow enables the focusing of extremely small biological particles by eliminating the need to design impractically long channels. The presented results show that the equilibrium position of the capsule changes not only by the addition of an oscillatory component to the pressure gradient, but it also is influenced by the capsule deformability and channel flow rate. Furthermore, it has been shown that the amplitude of oscillation of capsules decreases as the channel flow rate and the rigidity of the capsule increases.