STUDY ON INERTIAL MIGRATION OF PARTICLES

IN THE STRAIGHT MICROCHANNEL AND

CONVERGENT-DIVERGENT SECTION IN THE
SLIT CHANNEL

A THESIS

submitted by:

JAYASHEELAN J
TVE16METS06
to
the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University
in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the Degree
of

Master of Technology
in
Thermal Science

Department of Mechanical Engineering

College of Engineering Trivandrum

Thiruvananthapuram-16

JULY 2018
 Declaration

I undersigned, hereby declare that the project titled “Study on Inertial Migra-
tion of Particles in the Straight Microchannel and Convergent-Divergent Section
in the Slit Channel.” submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award
of degree of Master of Technology of the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University,
Kerala is a bonafide work done by me under the supervision of Prof. Jaimon Cletus.
This submission represents my ideas in my own words and where ideas or words of
others have been included, I have adequately and accurately cited and referenced the
original sources. I also declare that I have adhered to ethics of academic honesty and
integrity and have not misrepresented or fabricated any data or idea or fact or source
in my submission. I understand that any violation of the above will be a cause for dis-
ciplinary action by the institute and/or the University and can also evoke penal action
from the sources which have thus not been properly cited or from whom proper permis-
sion has not been obtained. This report has not been previously formed the basis for the
award of any degree, diploma, or similar title of any other university.

Place: Signature
Date: Jayasheelan J
 DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING TRIVANDRUM
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-16

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project report titled Study on Inertial Migration of Particles
in the Straight Microchannel and Convergent-Divergent Section in the Slit Chan-
nel. submitted by Jayasheelan J, Reg. No. TVE16METS06, to the APJ Abdul Kalam
Technological University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the
Degree of Master of Technology in Department of Mechanical Engineering Stream -
Thermal Science, is a bonafide record of the project work carried out by him/her under
my guidance and supervision. This report in any form has not been submitted to any
other University or Institute for any purpose.

Prof. Jaimon Cletus Prof. Dr. N. Asok kumar

Thesis Supervisor PG Coordinator

Prof. Dr. Samson A

Head of the Department
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Firstly, I would like to express my special gratitude to my thesis supervisor

Prof. Jaimon Cletus, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, CET who gave me the golden
opportunity to do this thesis.

I am grateful to Prof. Dr. Samson A, Head of the Department, Mechanical

Engineering in College of Engineering, Trivandrum, for giving me permissions to use
the facilities.

I wish to express my sincere thanks to Dr. J David, Principal who permit to

access all the common facilities related to my thesis work.

I extend the gratitude to Dr A S Karthika, Stream Head of Thermal Science,

Department of Mechanical Engineering for coordinating various progress evaluations
of thesis work which helped me a lot to improve my thesis

I am thankful to N Ashok kumar, PG Coordinator, College of engineering,

Trivandrum, for all suggestions he made at the time of progress evaluations.

I am grateful to Dr. Renjith S kumar, Dept. of Mechanical Engg., who permitted

me to access microfluidics lab facilities, also indebted to his valuable criticism, correc-
tions while doing my thesis work

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Baiju Sasidharan for giving
all the support as a mentor for pursuing my M-Tech course especially at the time of the
thesis work. I extend the same gratitude to Dr. Bijulal Department of Mechanical Engg.
for helping me to carryout my thesis documentation in LaTeX

I am thankful for the constant support and motivation from Dr. Rani S for the
challenges related to my academic growth. I am also grateful to my professors, my
mother, sister, brother, friends and class mates for all the supports they have given for
the successful completion of my thesis work.

Jayasheelan J

i
ABSTRACT

Particle manipulation techniques for biochemical, clinical and environmental ap-

plications have exponential growth in today’s world. Inertial migration technique is one
of it to separate or filtrate the particle in a channel. To study the inertial migration vari-
ous controllable parameters such as Reynolds number of particle, diameter of the chan-
nel, density of the particle and the fluid are considered and the effect of each on the same
are to be monitored. This work ia an attempt to model inertial migration in a straight
microchannel. As an extension of the work, inertial migration on convergent-divergent
section in a slit channel is also been carried out. In the case of convergent-divergent sec-
tion, throat length and particle density are the major parameters considered. From the
study, it is found that when increasing the flow density, particle density and Reynolds
number, the inertial migration length decreases. It is also observed that on increasing
the diameter of pipe the migration length has been seen increased. In the convergent-
divergent section, a smooth behaviour of inertial migration is observed up to 0.4 times
the radius of the channel for throat length variation. After that there is no migration
shift is observed because by the increase in axial velocity particle hits on the geometry.
When the particle density is altered in the convergent-divergent section, r/R ratio shows
an increasing tendency.

Keywords: Inertial migration, Microchannel, Migration length, Convergent-divergent

section

ii
Contents

Contents Page

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i

ABSTRACT ii

LIST OF TABLES v

LIST OF FIGURES vi

1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Method to investigate inertial migration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 COMSOL Multiphysics 5.2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 Scope and Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.4 The content of the thesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

2 LITERATURE REVIEW 4
2.1 Basics of inertial migration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2 Experimental Investigations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.3 Numerical investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.4 Critique of literature review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

3 ANALYTICAL INVESTIGATIONS 12
3.1 Inertial migration in a straight microchannel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.1.1 Geometric modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.1.2 Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.1.3 Laminar flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.1.4 Particle tracing for fluid flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.2 Inertial migration in convergent-divergent cross-section in a slit channel 16
3.2.1 Geometric model for 2D convergent-divergent cross section . . 16
3.2.2 Boundary conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

4 RESULT AND DISCUSSIONS. 18

4.1 Validation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.2 Grid independence test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.3 Straight microchannel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.3.1 Inertial migration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.3.2 Variation of channel diameter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

iii
 4.3.3 Change in particle diameter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
4.3.4 Change in particle Reynolds number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
4.3.5 Fluid and Particle density variation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
4.4 Convergent-divergent section - slit channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
4.4.1 Inertial migration in the convergent-divergent section . . . . . . 23
4.4.2 Variation of throat length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
4.4.3 Migration length variation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4.4.4 Effect of particle density. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

5 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 27

5.1 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
5.2 Conclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
5.3 Scope for the future studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

REFERENCES 31

iv
List of Tables

Title Page No.

2.1 Highlights of experimental investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

2.2 Highlights of numerical investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

v
List of Figures

Title Page No.

3.1 Schematic diagram of the straight microchannel . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

3.2 Schematic diagram of convergent-divergent section in slit channel . . . 17

4.1 validation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.2 Inertial migration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
4.3 Different channel diameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
4.4 Different particle diameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
4.5 variation in particle Reynolds number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
4.6 Density variation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
4.7 Inertial migration in the convergent-divergent section . . . . . . . . . . 24
4.8 r/R change to throat length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
4.9 Effect of throat length in inertial migration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4.10 Particle density in the convergent-divergent section . . . . . . . . . . . 26

vi
Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

When a neutrally buoyant particle caused to flow in a pipe develops concentra-

tion gradients. Neutrally buoyant particles have the same density as that of the medium
where they are suspended(fluid). When a fluid carries these particles in a cylindrical
pipe under laminar conditions, the concentration of particle reduces in the centre line
of the pipe and even more decrease near the wall. But meanwhile, the level of particles
increases at the intermediate radial position as the particles tends to collect at an equilib-
rium position which is nearly 0.6 times the pipe radius, from the centre of the pipe. The
phenomenon by which particles migrates to this equilibrium position is called inertial
focusing or inertial migration. Inertial migration or inertial focusing has a wide range
of application in medical and chemical industries such as particle filtration, separation,
cytometry of cell and mixing etc., which uses microchannel. Microchannel are used
in MEMS devices for chemical and biological analysis. They use the minimal area for
multiple analysis, which is the basis of the concept of a chemistry laboratory on a chip.
It is also used for transport of biological materials like proteins, DNA, and embryos or
to transport analytes and chemical samples. (For example, i-STAT blood sample anal-
ysis). So the present study focuses on the numerical investigation on inertial migration
in the straight channel. It has also been extended for the study of inertial migration in
convergent-divergent section in a slit channel using Particle Tracing for Fluid Flow in-
terface available in Comsol Multiphysics 5.2, which is used to compute the trajectories
of particles in a two- dimensional Poiseuille flow.

1.1 Method to investigate inertial migration

To simulate the inertial movement of particles, the solid-fluid interaction dynam-
ics need to be modelled. For fluid phase and solid phase, necessary boundary conditions
and forces have to be applied. To compute the flow with particle tracing essential mesh
has to be generated in the domain. From the results of simulation inertial migration
characteristics can be analysed. This is the general procedure available in various soft-
ware packages such as COMSOL Multiphysics, ANSYS etc.

1.2 COMSOL Multiphysics 5.2

Comsol Multiphysics is the one of the software packages available in the mar-
ket for design, modelling and simulation for a variety of application such as AC/DC,
Electromagnetic, Acoustics and vibration, Batteries, Computational Fluid etc. For this
thesis, COMSOL Multiphysics 5.2a version has been used. In this, laminar flow physics
was coupled with particle tracking in fluid flow physics for simulating the inertial mi-
gration flow through slit channel.

1.3 Scope and Objectives

Investigation into inertial migration has colossal range in medical and chemical
applications such as particle separation, filtering, mixing, transport of chemical and
biological items etc. Hence the outcome of the present study can contribute to various
developments in the medical and chemical fields which employ microchannel and nano-
channels for the application within a small area and in a short time. Chemical laboratory
on a little chip concept is one of the emerging sectors. Also, awareness of inertial
migration concept may lead to new studies and investigation different areas. Some area
are nanoscale territory exploration, a combination of passive and active methods for
better technology development etc.
The objectives fixed for the present study are

• To study the factors affecting inertial migration and their influence on it such as
Re, Diameter of pipe, Density of fluid, Particle density and different geometry.

• To model the inertial migration of particle in the straight channel and analyse the
same to predict the influence in the migration length by changing the parameters

• To model the inertial migration in the 2D convergent-divergent section in slit

channel and examine the impact in the migration length according to the change
in throat length variation and particle density variation.

• To validate the findings from the numerical investigation with experimental re-
sults available in the literature survey.

2
1.4 The content of the thesis
There are five chapters in this thesis report. Chapter 1 deals with the overview of
inertial migration of neutrally buoyant particle and its numerical study. It also illustrates
the scope and objectives of the present study. Chapter 2 discuss a review of various lit-
erature related to the current numerical investigation. Chapter 3 address the analytical
modeling of inertial migration. Discussion on the outcome of the study has been nar-
rated in chapter 4. The summary and conclusions have been presented in chapter 5.
Details of books, journals, other related articles are given in the references.

3
Chapter 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

This research work deals with the numerical investigation on inertial focusing
of neutrally buoyant particles in slit channel. Literature review on fundamental prin-
ciples of inertial migration and experimental studies that have been done by various
researchers are given in the following sessions.

2.1 Basics of inertial migration

In the 1960s on the motivation by absorbing that in blood vessels the blood cor-
puscles tend to be distributed non-uniform across, Segre and Silberberg investigated
and observed that randomly distributed nearly 1mm diameter particles in 1cm diame-
ter pipe, formed an annulus about 0.6 times radius of the pipe from the centre line of
the pipe.It was the pioneering work on the inertial migration of particles in cylindri-
cal tubes. Particle flowing in a channel may experience two significant or dominant
forces which are the viscous drag force and inertial lift force. Viscous force entrained
the particle along the streamline whereas inertial lift force enables particles to migrate
across streamlines. It is found that inertial lift force has two components which are a
wall-induced lift force and a shear-induced lift force. The wall-induced lift force acts up
the velocity gradient away from the wall toward the channel center line, and the shear-
induced lift force acts up the velocity gradient toward the channel wall. Thus these two
components of lift force act together and balances each other and responsible for the
particle migration into an annulus of 0.6 times radius of pipe from the centre line which
is an equilibrium position.
2.2 Experimental Investigations
There are extensive efforts have done to investigating particle migration and its
equilibrium positions in cylindrical, rectangular and curved channels.
Matas et al. (2004) have done an investigation on the inertial migration of rigid
spherical particles in Poiseuille flow and found that Segre-Silberberg annulus shifts
towards the wall for neutrally buoyant particles as Reynolds number increases. Also
mentioned that as particle size increases the Segre-Silberberg annulus shift towards the
pipe centre. It has also been found that at Reynolds number equal or higher than 600
some particle accumulated in an inner annulus to the centre of the pipe.
Fall et al. (2010) have experimented titled shear thickening and migration in
granular suspensions to investigate the effect of shear rate and found that by increasing
the shear rate a smooth transition is possible between Newtonian to Bagnoldian regime.
Choi et al. (2011) have experimented with a square microchannel to estimate
the lateral and cross-lateral focusing of spherical particles. They suggested that the
particles migrate first in the lateral direction and then cross-laterally toward equilibrium
positions. Also, a general criterion to secure the fully developed state of particles is
derived.
Miura et al. (2014) have done an investigation on the inertial migration of neu-
trally buoyant spheres in a pressure driven flow through the square channel. Experi-
ments have done in the range of Reynolds number from 100 to 1200. They have found
that there are eight equilibrium positions in a square channel. Four on the channel face
and another on the corners of the channel. They also found that after a critical Reynolds
number the corner equilibrium vanishes in the square channel.
Hood et al. (2016) have experimented to measure the inertial particle migration
in a rectangular channel directly. They observed that in soft lithography microchannels
particles were focused before entering into the microchannel and there for it limits the
control over the particle focusing trajectories.
Morita et al. (2017) have done an investigation on the topic equilibrium ra-
dial positions of neutrally buoyant spherical particles over the circular cross-section
in Poiseuille flow. They have noticed that the inner annulus that is formed due to the
accumulation of particles is not an exact equilibrium position, but it is a transient zone.
Also, concluded that particles accumulate within the Segre-Silberberg annulus in a long
enough pipe. Table 2.1 lists the major heighlights on experimental investigations by
various researchers

5
 Table 2.1: Highlights of experimental investigation

Sl
Year Title and Authir Remarks
no
When Reynolds number increases the Segre-
Silberberg annulus shifts towards the wall.
Inertial migration of rigid spherical
When particle size increases equilibrium po-
1 2004 particles in Poiseuille flow Matas et
sition shifts towards the pipe centre.
al.
The inner annulus formed near pipe centre
above Reynolds number 600.
Shear thickening and migration in By increasing the shear rate a smooth tran-
2 2010 granular suspensions sition from Newtonian to Bagnoldian regime
Fall et al is possible.
The particles migrate first in the lateral direc-
Lateral and cross-lateral focusing
tion and then cross-laterally toward the equi-
on spherical particles in a square
3 2011 librium positions.
microchannel
A general criterion to secure the fully devel-
Choi et al
oped state of particle focusing is derived.
Inertial migration of neutrally
Channel face and corner equilibrium were
buoyant spheres in a pressure
founded
4 2014 driven flow through the square
Below Reynolds number 250 no corner equi-
channel
librium
Miura et al
Direct measurement of inertial par- In soft lithography microchannel, pre-
ticle migration in rectangular mi- focusing of particles before they enter the
5 2016
crochannel microchannel occurs and limit the control
Hood et al over particle focusing trajectories.
Equilibrium radial positions of neu-
Inner annulus is a transient zone and not a
trally buoyant spherical particles
permanent equilibrium position
6 2017 over the circular cross-section in
For long enough pipe particles obey Segre-
Poiseuille flow
Silberberg annulus.
Matas et al.

6
2.3 Numerical investigation
Many research papers are available on numerical investigation. Research on the
inertial migration has been continuing from last 20 years to understand the dynamics of
inertial focusing in micro-channel. The micro-channel promises applications in chemi-
cal and medical fields. Some of the numerical findings are discussed below
Joseph and Ocando (2002) have done a direct numerical simulation to study the
lift and migration of neutrally buoyant particles in Poiseuille flow. They aimed to under-
stand the relation of slip velocity and angular slip velocity to lift and migration. They
found that from wherever the particle is released it will migrate to an equilibrium posi-
tion, then move forward with a different steady angular velocity and particle velocity.
Yu et al. (2004) have done a dynamic simulation of sphere motion in a vertical
tube. For simulation, they used a finite-difference based distributed Lagrange multiplier
to solve the fluid flow problem. They have examined the sedimentation and radial
migration of spheres inflow in the vertical tube. It was founded that a sphere takes a
spiral trajectory which is close to the wall when vortices take place at high Reynolds
number. Also suggested that Magnus effect influence the rotational and lateral motion
of spheres.
Pan and Glowinski (2005) have done a direct simulation of the neutrally buoyant
balls in a 3D Poiseuille flow. They have used an Arbitrary Euler Lagrange method
to compute the particle flow and founded that the results are agreeable with previous
findings with 2D Poiseuille flow.
Yang et al. (2005) have done an investigation named migration of a sphere in
tube flow. Here the cross stream migration of rigid sphere in tube flow was simulated
using two packages, one ALE method on moving grid and another DLM method on the
rigid grid. They found that the two approaches have good agreement with each other
and simulations agrees with the experimental observations.
Chun and Ladd (2006) have done a simulation of inertial migration of neutrally
buoyant particles in a square duct, which was an investigation of multiple equilibrium
positions. They have used Reynolds number between 100 to 1000. In the simulation,
they observed that particles either migrate to equilibrium positions near a corner or
centre of an edge. Above Reynolds number 750 they saw particles in an inner region
near to the centre of the square duct.
Shao et al. (2008) have been numerically investigated the inertial migration of
spherical particles in a circular Poiseuille flow for the Reynolds number up to 2200.
Inner equilibrium positions where founded when Reynolds number exceeds a critical
value. Also mentioned that hydrodynamic interactions between particle have a sig-

7
nificant influence on migration for long tubes. For large Reynolds number, a mirror-
symmetric wave-like structure has been found.
Di Carlo et al. (2009) have investigated the effects of particles in confined sys-
tems where the size of the particle approaches the channel dimensions. They found that
at the equilibrium position particle rotates ar rates depend on particle size.
Choi et al. (2011) have done an investigation of lateral and cross-lateral focus-
ing of spherical particles in a square microchannel. They have found that there is a
pseudo-Segre-Silberberg annulus as the Reynolds number and channel entry length is
increased. Further particles are focused along a cross-lateral direction into four equi-
librium positions at the centre of each microchannel face in the square channel. Cross-
lateral focusing is depending on the shear gradient and particle size linearly.
Shin and Sung (2012) have explored the dynamics of an elastic capsule in mod-
erate Reynolds number as a function of depending parameters like Re, size ratio, mem-
brane stretching coefficient etc. It has been found that elastic capsule near wall deform
due to more considerable shear stress near the wall and quickly aligned. A higher lateral
velocity was generated when the aspect ratio decreases.
Abbas et al. (2014) have investigated the migration of finite-sized particles in
a laminar square channel flow from low to high Reynolds number. They noticed that
as the Reynolds number increased from 0.07 to 120 the particle cross stream motion
exhibit two distinct regimes. At high Re particle migration induced by lift force is
oriented near the channel wall but in low Re weak movement and focuses at the centre
of the channel.
Nakagawa et al. (2015) Have explored the inertial migration of spherical parti-
cles in laminar square channel flows from low to high Reynolds number ranges from 20
to 1000. Flow field around the particle is computed. They observed that there are four
equilibrium positions at the face of the channel which is stable and four equilibrium po-
sitions at the corner which is unstable beyond a critical Reynolds number. Also noticed
that by the increase in Reynolds number face centred equilibrium to shift to the channel
wall first and then away from the wall.
Kim et al. (2016) have studied the inertial migration in the non-rectangular chan-
nel to understand and manipulate the flow profile and focusing of microparticles. They
have found that by changing the Reynolds number, non-equilateral triangle channels
shifts the focusing positions. Connecting different cross-sectional geometry could lead
to focus microparticles precisely.
Lashgari et al. (2016) have studied the particle dynamics and the bulk behaviour
of mixers when Reynolds number is in the ratio of 500 to 5000 by using finite size
spherical particles in channel flow. Their investigation reveals laminar, turbulent and

8
shear-thicking regimes. Also mentioned that Bagnold number could predict the bulk
behaviour of the mixture.
Udono and Sakai (2017) have suggested that a rich insight into the dynamics of
particle focusing is needed and simulated the multi-particle suspensions in a confined
channel. They proposed a new method to couple the discrete element method with the
direct numerical simulation method and named it as a DEM-DNS method.
Asmolov et al. (2018) have studied the inertial migration of finite particles at
moderate Reynolds number in the plane-channel (Re ≤ 20). They have an opinion
that the location of the particles in the channel is determined by the balancing of lift
and gravity force and the migration is attributed to lifting force. They showed that
slip velocity contributes to the lift force and to determine the equilibrium position of
particles in the channel. Also, proposed expression for the lift force. The heighlights
from the numerical studies are tabulated as shown (Refer Table 2.2)

2.4 Critique of literature review

More than 15 research papers in the numerical investigation and more than six
experimental investigation papers have been reviewed. In the case of an experimental
investigation, the significant geometries considered are circular pipe, rectangular and
square channel. All the experiments were interested in studying the effect of equilib-
rium position forming in a channel due to the presence of tiny particles. They have
employed particles like neutrally buoyant particles, spherical particle, oblige particle,
elastic particles etc. with finite diameter. Recently different types of geometries like
triangular, half round, varying geometry, combinations of geometries have considered
to investigate the particle focusing phenomena. In the case of a numerical investigation,
geometries almost discussed in the experimental research are used. No study has been
evolved regarding the influence of throat length variation in the inertial migration phe-
nomena. Hence literature review gave the scope for study the influence of throat length
variation in convergent divergent section in slit channel.

9
 Table 2.2: Highlights of numerical investigation

Sl
Year Title and Authir
no
Slip velocity and lift
1 2002
Joseph and Ocando
Dynamic simulation of sphere mo-
2 2004 tion in a vertical tube
Yu et al.
Direct simulation of the motion
of neutrally buoyant balls in 3D
3 2005
Poiseuille flow
Pan and Glowinski
Migration of a sphere in tube flow
4 2005
Yang et al.
Inertial migration of neutrally
buoyant particle in a square duct:
5 2006 An investigation of multiple
equilibrium positions
Chun and Ladd
Inertial movement of spherical par-
ticles in circular Poiseuille flow at
6 2008
moderately high Reynolds number
Xueming Shao et al.
Particle segregation and dynamics
7 2009 in the confined flow.
Di Carlo et al
Lateral and cross-lateral focusing
on spherical particles in a square
8 2011
channel
Seo and Lee, Di Carlo et al.
Dynamics of an elastic capsule in
9 2012 moderate number Poiseuille flow
Shin and Sung
Remarks
Mentioned about correlation between lift
force and angular slip velocity
Predicted radial, angular and axial velocities
for both neutrally and non-neutrally buoyant
particles of Reynolds number up to 300
Simulated the motion of neutrally buoyant
balls in circular Poiseuille flow.
Estimated the correlation for the lift force on
a neutrally buoyant particle at Re, up to 250
Investigated the migration of single and
multi-particles in the square duct at Re up to
1000
Stated that after a critical Re inner equilib-
rium has been occured. When particle Re in-
creased a mirror-symmetric travelling wave-
like structure have been found
Found channel face equilibrium position for
massive particle within the range 10 ≤ Re ≤
40 compared to the width of the channel
Found that the location of equilibrium posi-
tion moves closer to channel wall when Re
increases
The three dynamic motion of 2D elastic cap-
sule, tank-treading, swinging and tumbling
and their translational movement was scruti-
nised

10
Sl
Year Title and Authir Remarks
no
Migration of finite-sized particles in
a laminar square channel flow from Found the equilibrium position of particle
10 2014
low to high Reynolds number shifts to the channel wall.
Abbas et al.
Noticed eight equilibrium positions at the
Inertial migration of a spherical
centre of the channel face and near the cor-
particle in laminar square channel
ners of the channel cross-section. Chan-
11 2015 flows from low to high Reynolds
nel face equilibrium has been found stable
numbers
whereas corner face equilibrium is seen un-
Naoto Nakagowa et al.
stable
Estimated the particle dynamics and mean
Channel flow of rigid sphere sus-
bulk behaviour of the mixture within 500 ≤
pensions: Particle dynamics in the
12 2015 Re ≤ 5000 and volume fraction 0 ≤ ϕ ≤
inertial regime
0.3. There exist laminar, turbulent and iner-
Iman Lashgari et al
tial shear thickening regimes.
Inertial focusing in non-rectangular
cross-section microchannels and If the cross-section is half circular or trian-
13 2016 manipulation of accessible posi- gular a focused particle stream will be gen-
tions erated near the channel face.
Kim and Lee et al
Inertial particle focusing in mi-
crochannels with the gradually Saffman lift force dominates in gradually
14 2016
changing geometrical structure changing structures.
Liang-Liang Fan et al
Oblate particle exhibits chaotic characteris-
tics due to the rotation and final orienta-
Inertial migration of spherical and
tion beyond critical Reynolds number. Less
15 2017 oblate particles in straight ducts
regular due to the tumbling motion of the
Iman Lashgari et al
oblate particle and consequently longer fo-
cusing length.
A numerical study on dynamic in-
Developed a new method to combine the dis-
ertial focusing of microparticles in
16 2017 crete element method with the direct numer-
a confined flow
ical method.
Hirotake Udono et al
Inertial focusing of finite size parti- There is a difference in particle velocities
17 2018 cles in microchannels. near the channel wall and that of flow in front
Evgeny S Asmolov et al of the particles.

11
Chapter 3

ANALYTICAL INVESTIGATIONS

This chapter explains the numerical investigations carried out. The objectives of
the analytical investigations is to study the influence of variable parameters in inertial
migration. For the numerical modeling and analysis, Comsol multiphysics, Qtiplot have
been used.

3.1 Inertial migration in a straight microchannel

Micro-channel has the dimensions in the range of micro (10−6 m) scale. It is
used in microfluidics applications. Microfluidics is a branch of science which deals
with the fluid characteristics and its manipulation in the range of ten to hundred mi-
crometers. The study of fluid -particle interactions and manipulative in the micro scale
has wide application in medical and chemical fields. For the present study circular
microchannel is considered. A 2D model of the micro-channel has modeled in Comsol
Multiphysics and simulated the inertial migration phenomena. To understand it variable
parameters like particle Reynolds number, channel diameter, fluid and particle density
were considered in straight micro-channel.

3.1.1 Geometric modeling

A 2D model of a straight microchannel with 400µm diameter and length of 2m
has been created using rectangle tool option in Comsol Multiphysics. The width of
the rectangle represents the length of the micro-channel and the height of the rectangle
represents the diameter for the micro-channel
 Figure 3.1: Schematic diagram of the straight microchannel

3.1.2 Materials
The material used for the entire geometry is fluid with properties as dynamic
fluid viscosity of 0.00145 Pa.s and fluid density as 1049kg/m3 .

3.1.3 Laminar flow

Here laminar flow field through a straight pipe is simulated using the fluid prop-
erties and by solving the governing equations which govern the physical problem. We
aim here to generate a parabolic velocity profile.

Fluid Properties

The equation used for fluid properties are momentum equation and continuity
equation.
ρ∇.~u = 0 (3.1)

ρ(~u.∇)~u = ∇.[−pI + µ(∇~u + (∇~u)T )] + F (3.2)

Where ρ is fluid density, u is fluid velocity, p is pressure, I is identity matrix µ

is fluid dynamic viscosity, F is forces acting on the domain

Wall

Here we assumed that there is no slip on the wall, that is fluid velocity on the
wall is zero (u = 0).

13
Inlet

Here the inlet parameter used is the average velocity of the fluid. It is founded
from Reynolds number of the channel.

~u = −U0 n̂ (3.3)

Outlet

Outlet boundary condition is given as pressure is equal to zero (p= 0). Because
in Comsol Multiphysics outlet pressure is given as atmospheric pressure which is equal
to 1 bar.

[−pI + µ(∇~u + (∇~u)T )]n̂ = −pˆ0 n̂ (3.4)

By solving the momentum equation and continuity equation with the assump-
tions, flow is a laminar, incompressible and isothermal solution is obtained and stored
for the first study. This result is used for the second study which is particle tracing for
fluid flow.

3.1.4 Particle tracing for fluid flow

The particle tracing for fluid flow interface available in Comsol Multiphysics
is used to compute the particle’s trajectory in two-dimensional Poiseuille flow. It is a
time-dependent study. Particles alignment in the fluid flow varies to time and come to an
equilibrium position after a particular time and distance. Inertial migration of particles
is affected by the presence of the wall. Due to the presence of wall a wall-induced lift
force is generated and due to the parabolic nature of flow shear-induced lift force is
created. Therefore wall forces are included in the domain.

Wall

For particle trajectory tracing, the wall boundary condition is taken as the veloc-
ity of the particle while striking the wall

V~ = v~c (3.5)

Where vc is the particle velocity when striking the wall.

14
Particle properties

Here particle density is treated as the fluid density that is treated as neutrally
buoyant particles. For the study, the particle density variation effect in inertial migration
the density of the particle varied about 50 percent of fluid density. The diameter of the
particle considered is 22µm.

d
(mp~v ) = Ft (3.6)
dt
Which implies that the rate of change of momentum of particles is equal to the
total forces acting on the particle, which is drag force and lift force.

Inlet

In the inlet for particle tracing the number of particles that have to be given
is specified about how much, how and in what velocity. Here about 200 particles are
uniformly distributed at the inlet with previously computed velocity. That is the velocity
field (spf).

Drag force

The viscous drag force is the force generated against the fluid flow. The need
to displace the element of fluid out of the way of the moving object is the basis for the
development of drag force. Stoke relation is used to calculate the drag force experienced
by the tiny particle.

1
FD = mp (~u − ~v ) (3.7)
τp
where u is velocity of fluid, v is velocity of particle, and τp is particle response
time.

ρp d2p
τp = (3.8)
18µ
where ρp is particle density, dp is particle diameter

Lift force

There are mainly two lift forces are acting on the particles namely wall induced
lift force and drag force. Firstly the presence of a wall creates a velocity change of
the fluid and enables particle rotation. Secondly, the flow field around the particle is

15
altered. So the net force on the particle near the wall and particle in unbounded flow
region changes. So essentially the presence of wall creates the effect on an immersed
particle is that which retards the motion of the particle and repel them away from the
wall to the pipe center line. Here in the domain, two parallel side has to be selected as
identical boundaries where wall induced force is enabled.

rp4
FL = ρ β(βG1 (s) + γG2 (s))n̂ (3.9)
D2
β = |D(n̂.∇)u~p | (3.10)
D2
γ=| (n̂.∇)2 u~p | (3.11)
2
O
u~p = (I − (n̂ n̂))~u (3.12)

where I is the identity matrix (dimensionless), n̂ is the wall normal at the nearest
point on the reference wall (dimensionless) D is Distance between channel wall (m) S
is the nondimensionalised distance from the particle to the reference wall G1 , G2 is
the functions of nondimensionalised wall distance s (dimensionless), u~p is the particle
velocity
The lift force only acts in the direction perpendicular to the velocity of the fluid.
The velocity field u is first computed using the Laminar flow physics interface, then
coupled to the Particle Tracing for Fluid Flow physics interface using the Drag Force
node. The above mentioned sections in laminar flow and particle tracing in fluid flow
are the boundary conditions.

3.2 Inertial migration in convergent-divergent cross-section

in a slit channel
In this study, the convergent-divergent cross section is placed in a slit channel
where after the development of Segre-Silberberg effect. The length of the throat varied
according to the slit channel diameter such as 0.1R, 0.2R, 0.3R etc. from each side of
the wall. Thus the throat diameter gets reduced and enable the corresponding effects.

3.2.1 Geometric model for 2D convergent-divergent cross section

This model (Fig.3.2) is constructed in Comsol with bezier polygon and boolean
operations available in modeling. First, a rectangle is modeled then a triangle with a

16
 Figure 3.2: Schematic diagram of convergent-divergent section in slit channel

base of 300µm is made on it by the coordinate method, and next to the triangle is sepa-
rated out by using boolean operation ”difference” available in Comsol Multiphysics.

3.2.2 Boundary conditions

Here boundary conditions used in straight microchannel mentioned in section
3.1 is applied. The only difference in geometry from that is the presence of convergent-
divergent section. So while assigning the wall induced lift force condition bound-
aries have to be select correctly for simulation. Different mesh can be used for the
convergent-divergent section.

17
Chapter 4

RESULT AND DISCUSSIONS.

This chapter illustrate the results obtained from the numerical investigations and
the findings. They are discussed in details in the following sessions.

4.1 Validation
To validate the simulation method and result, previous work data available is
simulated precisely as the described and checked whether both are matching or not and
what is the error obtained.

Figure 4.1: validation

In Fig.4.1 the black dotted line is the Comsol simulation result, and red dotted
line refers to the values from the previous work. At the beginning and last area val-
ues matched precisely and could see a gap in between it. The difference indicates the
error which is approximately below 3%. The error is because that the Comsol take
assumptions and approximated value to compute and experiment it is not so.

4.2 Grid independence test

In every simulation software packages, grid independence test is conducted to
find out the minimum number of elements for mesh and minimize the computing time.
Because higher elements lead to higher computing time. For this study, it is found out
that the optimum number of elements is 3500 and computing time is around 10 minutes.

4.3 Straight microchannel

Here inertial migration effect, change in inertial migration length with respect to
changes in the parameters like channel diameter, change in particle diameter, change in
particle Reynolds number, and change in density of fluid and particle etc are found out.
The inertial migration length is the minimum distance taken by the particles before to
align in the Segre-Silberberg annulus which is the equilibrium position.

4.3.1 Inertial migration

Inertial migration is the phenomena by which dispersed particle in a fluid flow
come to an equilibrium position after covering certain length. This equilibrium position
is 0.6R away from the centre line of the channel. It is due to the forces acting on the
particles which are wall induced lift force and shear-induced lift force.
Fig. 4.2 depicts inertial migration in 400µm diameter microchannel. Colour
legend shows the particle velocity and magnitude in the y-direction. From the figure,
migration length is approximately 55cm and equilibrium position in 0.8e-4 from the
bottom level, which is precisely 0.6R from channel centre line.

4.3.2 Variation of channel diameter.

The minimum criteria for inertial migration to be observed in a channel are the
ratio of particle diameter to channel diameter should be equal or greater than 0.05, and
particle Reynolds number should be greater than 0.07.

19
 Figure 4.2: Inertial migration

a
≥ 0.05 (4.1)
D
Rep > 0.07 (4.2)

where a is particle diameter and Rep = Re( Da )2

By obeying this, a channel Reynolds number is taken as 25 and for that by chang-
ing the velocity, channel diameter is obtained. Similarly, for Reynolds number 35,45
are obtained and simulated. According to the different diameter of channel different
migration length is obtained and plotted in Fig.4.3.
The graph represents the dependency of migration length with channel diameter
and both axes were nondimensionalised. It is observed that, for an increase in channel
diameter, migration length is also seen increases. This trend is observed because the
lateral lift force is inversely proportional to the square of channel diameter. Thus as the
channel diameter increases the lift force acting on the particles is diminishes thereby
particles have to travel more distance before reaching the equilibrium position. This
implies that there is an increase in migration length.

4.3.3 Change in particle diameter.

Here, by varying the a/D ratio with keeping the channel diameter and velocity
of the fluid as constant, the particle diameter is varied with obeying minimum crite-
ria for inertial migration. Simulation results obtained for different Reynolds number
(29,43.4,72.3) according to particle diameter variation and migration length is plotted.
From the Fig.4.4 It is found that a decreasing trend in inertial migration length
as the particle diameter increases. This is because the migration lift force acting on

20
 Figure 4.3: Different channel diameter

Figure 4.4: Different particle diameter

the particle is directly proportional to the fourth power of particle diameter. Thus as the
particle diameter increases the lift force acting on it increase to the fourth power. Due to
this particle reaches to equilibrium position very quickly which indicates that distance
covered by particle before reaching equilibrium is very less. That is the migration length
get reduce.

21
4.3.4 Change in particle Reynolds number
Here the particle Reynolds number is varied by keeping the a/D ratio a constant.
The channel fluid velocity changed and there by channel Reynolds number changed,
correspondingly particle Reynolds number changed. For different D/a ratio (17.77,
15.55, 13.33) is studied. The change in particle Reynolds number and a corresponding
change in migration length is plotted and are showed below.

Figure 4.5: variation in particle Reynolds number

Both axes of the Fig.4.5 are nondimensionalised. It is observed that as the parti-
cle Reynolds number increases the inertial migration length decreases. This is because
as the Reynolds number increases the inertial force get increases. Particle Reynolds
number depends upon the square of a/D ratio, which increases with respect to Reynolds
number. Increase in a/D ratio indicates the lift force acting on the particle increase. This
corresponds to a decrease in migration length.

4.3.5 Fluid and Particle density variation.

To study the fluid density and particle density effects on inertial migration ±30%
of 1049 is taken as fluid density and 50% of 1049 is taken as particle density. For
simulation the density variation is given as input as ±15% increment for fluid density
and 10% increment for particle density. Then the result is plotted.
From the graph, in Fig4.6 it is evident that migration length decreases with an
increase in density. For both particle density and fluid density variation same trend has

22
 Figure 4.6: Density variation

been observed. This is because, when density increases the effect of mass increases,
accordingly inertia force increase and migration length reduces due to the increase in
the impact of total force. For small D/a ratio of the density variation effect on inertial
migration is minimal and on other hands for higher D/a ratio, it increases.

4.4 Convergent-divergent section - slit channel

As explained in section 3.2, inertial migration in a convergent-divergent section
has been modeled. In that the effect of variation in throat length on inertial migration is
the prime focus because, enabling a convergent-divergent section in microchannel en-
hances the mixing property and can reduce the size needed for microchannel to perform
the mixing technique.

4.4.1 Inertial migration in the convergent-divergent section

Fig.4.7 represents the inertial migration in convergent-divergent section in slit
channel. In a convergent section, due to the variation in geometry, intensity and magni-
tude of the forces are different. The velocity of a fluid increases in convergent section
and pressure decreases due to stream flow. These forces change the behaviour of parti-
cles passing through it.

23
 Figure 4.7: Inertial migration in the convergent-divergent section

4.4.2 Variation of throat length

Here, after the particles i a flow attain the equilibrium position a convergent-
divergent section is placed. The gap between equilibrium position and the wall before
the convergent-divergent section is taken as ”R”, and the gap between equilibrium po-
sition obtained by particle in the throat and the wall of convergent-divergent section is
taken as ”r”. The ratio between this value r/R is computed and plotted against the throat
diameter variation.

Figure 4.8: r/R change to throat length

From Fig.4.8, It has been observed that as the throat length increases the r/R ratio

24
reduces. The r/R ratio for different D/a is plotted on the graph. The trend is because
of the decrease in ”r” value. For D/a= 17.77 the R is kept constant value as 80, and
when the throat length reduced by increasing the dip from channel wall by 0.1,0.2,0.3
etc. the gap ”r” reduces and effectively the ratio decreases. Up to 0.4R times the dip a
smooth inertial migration pattern is observed. Beyond that, the particle seems to collide
with the wall of the convergent section. It is because of the increase in velocity in the
converging section.

4.4.3 Migration length variation

When the previously aligned particles were passed through the convergent-divergent
section, particle gets distorted from equilibrium position due to the force variation in-
duced by a change in geometry. After coming away from the throat, it again realigns to
the equilibrium position.

Figure 4.9: Effect of throat length in inertial migration

So the impact of throat length variation on inertial migration is studied and the
length taken for particles to realign from the throat is measured and plotted (Fig.4.9)
for different particle Reynolds number. For a decrease in throat length, a decrease in
migration length is observed. This is because as throat length decreases the convergent
section converges more, and the force dominates in that section and increase the inertia
force. This leads to the decrease in migration length.

25
4.4.4 Effect of particle density.
Density for a particle is calculated as described in a migration study in the
straight microchannel. It is understood from the graph that as the particle density in-
creases the r/R ratio also increases. See (Fig.4.10)

Figure 4.10: Particle density in the convergent-divergent section

This r/R ratio increase tendency is because, as the density increases the viscous
force increases thereby shear-induced force acting in the particle increases. The lift
force is directly proportional to the density of the medium. In the convergent section,
the wall induced lift force increases due to the presence of slant wall. In overall, this
result the increase in ”r” value which is the gap between the equilibrium position inside
the convergent-divergent section and the wall at the throat. Also as the density increases
the migration length of the particles decreases which are realigning from the throat
section.

26
Chapter 5

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

The analytical study about the inertial migration on straight microchannel with
varying the parameters and the study about the effect of the convergent-divergent sec-
tion in slit channel with varying throat length have been summarised and given below
along with the major conclusions drawn from that. The scope of the future investigation
has also been mentioned below.

5.1 Summary
Inertial migration study in straight microchannel with 400µm,300µm,200µm
diameter has been done. The particle diameter used was 22µm. Tubular pinch effect
was carried out. The major forces for the inertial migration were drag force and lift
force. The geometry has great influence on the inertial migration phenomena. Hence
various parameters related to geometry and fluid are selected to study. The channel
diameter, the particle Reynolds number, density of particle and fluid were the major
parameters considered in straight channel. The influence of each parameters on inertial
migration was studied. In slit channel, a convergent-divergent section has been included
and studied about the inertial migration behaviour. The throat length variation and
particle density are parameters considered for in it. Influence of these parameters on
inertial migration in slit channel with 400µm,300µm,200µm have been studied.

5.2 Conclusions.
This work has been carried out using the inertial migration particle tracing mod-
ule available in the Comsol Multiphysics software package. The major conclusions
arrived from this study are as follows.
 • wall-induced lift force due to the presence of the wall and shear-induced lift force
due to the parabolic velocity profile fluid flow.

• The inertial migration length on a straight channel increases with increases in

channel diameter because channel diameter is inversely proportional to the lift
force.

• The inertial migration length decreases with increase in particle Reynolds number
because of the a/D ratio increases and inertia force increases.

• By increasing the particle diameter in inertial migration, the inertial migration

length can be reduced. The lift force is directly proportional to the fourth power
of particle diameter is the reason behind that.

• The lift force is directly proportional to density so for higher density the lift force
acting on the particle increases and particle quickly get into equilibrium position,
which leads to a decrease in migration length.

• In the convergent-divergent section, up to 0.4R dip from the wall, a smooth par-
ticle migration is observed, and after that, no particle migration shift was noticed
since the increase in axial velocity leads particle to hit on the convergent section.

• If the particle density increases inside the convergent-divergent section the r/R
ratio increases because of inertial force increases and the wall-induced lift force
increases and pushes away the particle to the channel centre line which leads to
increase ’r’ value and thus the ratio increases.

5.3 Scope for the future studies

Inertial migration in microfluidics is in infant stage now, so there is lack of quan-
titative design rules for different geometries. Still, more experiments have to do for
formulating the rules. The nano-scale territory has not explored. In nanoscale, the
Brownian interaction is more, and it may nullify the wall-induced lift force which plays
a significant role in inertial migration. Till now there is no work on the air-particle
system is reported, and future study on that field may lead to useful technologies in the
medical and chemical field. In the present study fluid-particle interaction is studied and
particle-particle interaction study is a possible one. The behaviour of inertial migration
in convergent-divergent section can be further studied by changing the wall proper-
ties like bounce back, sticking etc. The passive and active microfluidics have explored

28
separately so the combination of passive inertial microfluidics with active manipulation
techniques will enable powerful functionality in medical and chemical industries. Study
deep into the bottom scale may lead to new theories and technology and has a broad
scope in the emerging world.

29
REFERENCES

Abbas, M., P. Magaud, Y. Gao, and S. Geoffroy (2014). Migration of finite sized parti-
cles in a laminar square channel flow from low to high reynolds numbers. Physics of
Fluids 26(12), 123301.
Asmolov, E. S., A. L. Dubov, T. V. Nizkaya, J. Harting, and O. I. Vinogradova (2018).
Inertial focusing of finite-size particles in microchannels. Journal of Fluid Mechan-
ics 840, 613–630.
Choi, Y.-S., K.-W. Seo, and S.-J. Lee (2011). Lateral and cross-lateral focusing of
spherical particles in a square microchannel. Lab on a Chip 11(3), 460–465.
Chun, B. and A. Ladd (2006). Inertial migration of neutrally buoyant particles in a
square duct: An investigation of multiple equilibrium positions. Physics of Flu-
ids 18(3), 031704.
Di Carlo, D., J. F. Edd, K. J. Humphry, H. A. Stone, and M. Toner (2009). Particle
segregation and dynamics in confined flows. Physical review letters 102(9), 094503.
Fall, A., A. Lemaitre, F. Bertrand, D. Bonn, and G. Ovarlez (2010). Shear thickening
and migration in granular suspensions. Physical review letters 105(26), 268303.
Hood, K., S. Kahkeshani, D. Di Carlo, and M. Roper (2016). Direct measurement
of particle inertial migration in rectangular microchannels. Lab on a Chip 16(15),
2840–2850.
Joseph, D. and D. Ocando (2002). Slip velocity and lift. Journal of Fluid Mechan-
ics 454, 263–286.
Kim, J.-A., J. Lee, C. Wu, S. Nam, D. Di Carlo, and W. Lee (2016). Inertial focus-
ing in non-rectangular cross-section microchannels and manipulation of accessible
focusing positions. Lab on a Chip 16(6), 992–1001.
Lashgari, I., F. Picano, W. P. Breugem, and L. Brandt (2016). Channel flow of rigid
sphere suspensions: particle dynamics in the inertial regime. International Journal
of Multiphase Flow 78, 12–24.
Matas, J.-P., J. F. Morris, and É. Guazzelli (2004). Inertial migration of rigid spherical
particles in poiseuille flow. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 515, 171–195.
Miura, K., T. Itano, and M. Sugihara-Seki (2014). Inertial migration of neutrally buoy-
ant spheres in a pressure-driven flow through square channels. Journal of Fluid Me-
chanics 749, 320–330.

30
Morita, Y., T. Itano, and M. Sugihara-Seki (2017). Equilibrium radial positions of
neutrally buoyant spherical particles over the circular cross-section in poiseuille flow.
Journal of Fluid Mechanics 813, 750–767.

Nakagawa, N., T. Yabu, R. Otomo, A. Kase, M. Makino, T. Itano, and M. Sugihara-Seki

(2015). Inertial migration of a spherical particle in laminar square channel flows from
low to high reynolds numbers. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 779, 776–793.

Pan, T.-W. and R. Glowinski (2005). Direct simulation of the motion of neutrally buoy-
ant balls in a three-dimensional poiseuille flow. Comptes Rendus Mécanique 333(12),
884–895.

Shao, X., Z. Yu, and B. Sun (2008). Inertial migration of spherical particles in circu-
lar poiseuille flow at moderately high reynolds numbers. Physics of Fluids 20(10),
103307.

Shin, S. J. and H. J. Sung (2012). Dynamics of an elastic capsule in moderate reynolds

number poiseuille flow. International journal of heat and fluid flow 36, 167–177.

Udono, H. and M. Sakai (2017). A numerical study on dynamic inertial focusing of

microparticles in a confined flow. Granular Matter 19(4), 79.

Yang, B. H., J. Wang, D. D. Joseph, H. H. Hu, T.-W. Pan, and R. Glowinski (2005).
Migration of a sphere in tube flow. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 540, 109–131.

Yu, Z., N. Phan-Thien, and R. I. Tanner (2004). Dynamic simulation of sphere motion
in a vertical tube. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 518, 61–93.

31