Inertial particle focusing in microchannels with gradually changing geometrical structures

The influence of gradually changing geometrical structures on the inertial focusing of particles is systematically investigated by numerical simulations and experiments in this paper. The Saffman lift force, often ignored in the straight microchannel, becomes strong in microchannels with gradually changing geometrical structures, affecting the lateral migration of particles in the microchannels. In comparison with microchannels that have straight and gradually constricting structures, microchannels with gradually expanding structures focus all the particles in a much narrower bandwidth due to the combined effect of the Saffman lift force and the inertial lift force at the appropriate flow rates. Additionally, the influence of the different arrangements of gradually expanding structures on the inertial focusing of particles was also studied. Results suggest that to achieve the single-stream inertial focusing of particles, gradually expanding structures should be designed on one side or symmetrically on two sides of the microchannel. This study is of importance for the better design of the microchannels utilized for the efficient separation and manipulation of particle-related applications, such as microflow cytometry.