Modeling and Experimental Characterization of Pressure Drop in Gravity-Driven Microfluidic Systems

Antti-Juhana Mäki, Samu Hemmilä, Juha Hirvonen, Nathaniel Narra Girish, Joose Kreutzer, Jari Hyttinen, Pasi Kallio

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

    25 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Passive pumping using gravity-driven flow is a fascinating approach for microfluidic systems. When designing a passive pumping system, generated flow rates should be known precisely. While reported models used to estimate the flow rates do not usually consider capillary forces, this paper shows that their exclusion is unrealistic in typical gravity-driven systems. Therefore, we propose a new analytical model to estimate the generated flow rates. An extensive set of measurements is used to verify that the proposed model provides a remarkably more precise approximation of the real flow rates compared to the previous models. It is suggested that the developed model should be used when designing a gravity-driven pumping system.
    Translated title of the contributionModeling and Experimental Characterization of Pressure Drop in Gravity-Driven Microfluidic Systems
    Original languageEnglish
    Article number021105
    Pages (from-to)1-8
    Number of pages8
    JournalJournal of Fluids Engineering: Transactions of the ASME
    Volume137
    Issue number2
    Early online date8 Oct 2014
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Feb 2015
    Publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

    Keywords

    • analytical
    • gravity-driven
    • microfluidic
    • modeling
    • passive pump

    Publication forum classification

    • Publication forum level 1

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Control and Systems Engineering
    • Biomedical Engineering

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