Numerical investigation of the dynamics of a rigid spherical particle in a vortical cross-slot flow at moderate inertia

Abstract

The study of flow and particle dynamics in microfluidic cross-slot channels is of high relevance for lab-on-a-chip applications. In this work we investigate the dynamics of a rigid spherical particle in a cross-slot junction for a channel height-to-width ratio of 0.6 and at a Reynolds number of 120 for which a steady vortex exists in the junction area. Using an in-house immersed- boundary-lattice-Boltzmann code, we analyse the effect of the entry position of the particle in the junction and the particle size on the dynamics and trajectory shape of the particle. We find that the dynamics of the particle depends strongly on its lateral entry position in the junction and weakly on its vertical entry position; particles that enter close to the centre show trajectory oscillations. Larger particles have longer residence times in the junction and tend to oscillate less due to their confinement. Our work contributes to the understanding of the particle dynamics in intersecting flows and enables the design of optimised geometries for cytometry and particle manipulation.