Analysis of flow and slip behavior of microgel solution inside microchannel

Abstract

We conducted experiments and computations to investigate the flow of a microgel solution inside a microchannel. The model fluid was a 0.2 wt% Carbopol 941 microgel solution, which was injected into the microchannel with dimensions of 200 μm × 200 μm × 15 mm at a flow rate of 800 μL/h. We devised a new approach for visualizing the flow using the relative velocity, and used a new velocimetry method based on image processing to calculate the velocity profiles with reasonable accuracy. Our study focused on two aspects: 1) introducing a new velocimetry method based on image processing of flow visualizations, and 2) deducing a slip parameter by comparing the experiments and computations. Based on the model, we computationally explored various flow rates that could not be realized experimentally and investigated the slip behavior.