Yield-stress effects on spontaneous imbibition in paper-based kits

Abstract

The classic Richards equation is a good model for predicting imbibition of viscous fluids in porous materials such as dry soils or filter papers. It cannot, in principle, be used for physiological fluids such as blood simply because such fluids often exhibit a variety of non-Newtonian behavior such as a yield stress. In the present work, we have theoretically extended the classic Richards equation to viscoplastic fluids obeying the Bingham model using the concept of the effective viscosity together with the bundle-of-tube model. The new imbibition model could partly resolve the discrepancy reported in the literature between the predictions of the classic Richards equation for the stain growth of sessile blood droplets in a typical filter paper. A better fit, however, requires considering other non-Newtonian effects of the blood such as its viscoelasticity. Using the Bingham-modified Richards equation, it is demonstrated that yield stress in a test fluid has a retarding effect on the imbibition phenomenon, so that such fluids may not necessarily reach the test line of a paper-based diagnostic kit. But yield stress is predicted to extend the duration of the quasi-steady regime on the test line of diagnostic kits, which is a desirable effect. The results suggest that inducing (or elevating) the level of yield stress in a test liquid such as blood can be used as a passive means to control imbibition characteristics in paper-based systems.