Jet Formation in Micro Post Arrays

Abstract

Micropost arrays serve as a plaform for the next generation of diagnostic devices. These arrays are found in microfluidic devices for peripheral blood-based diagnostics and metastatic cancer management. The function and performance of these devices is determined by the underlying micro-scale fluid mechanics. Typically, these devices operate in the creeping regime (Re << 1) where the viscous forces of the fluids dominate. Recent advances in manufacturing allow for higher Reynolds number flows (Re >> 1) where the inertial forces dominate. In this work, we use computational simulations to show there is a transitional region (1 < Re < 20) in between the laminar and creeping regimes for two different micropost array geometries. Numerical analysis is employed to investigate jet formation both within the array and at the array exit. The peak-to-peak amplitude of the streamwise normalized velocity profile is used to quantify jet formation within the array; the streamwise velocity profile at the end of the array exit is used to determine jet length at the exit of the array. Above the transitional region (Re > 20) significant jets form downstream of the posts, amplitude scales exponentially and jet length scales with Re according to power law.