(349b) Hydrodynamic Interactions of Elastic Capsules in a Square Microfluidic Channel

The study of the interfacial dynamics of artificial or physiological capsules (i.e. membrane-enclosed fluid volumes) in Stokes flows has seen an increased interest during the last few decades due to their numerous engineering and biomedical applications. In addition, the study of the motion and deformation of capsules and biological cells in microfluidic channels is motivated by a wide range of applications including drug delivery, fabrication of microcapsules with desirable properties, cell sorting and characterization, micro-reactors with better mixing properties and of course its similarity to blood flow in vascular capillaries.

During the last years, these applications have motivated the investigation of the dynamics of a single elastic capsule in a variety of microfluidic channels, including cylindrical, square and rectangular channels, constrictions and expansions. In the present talk, our interest is concentrated on the hydrodynamic interactions between elastic capsules in a square microfluidic channel. In our computation investigation, we study a wide range of capsule sizes and flow rates. The conditions for capsules separation and the effects of lubrication physics will also be presented.