Particle flow behaviour modelling

Development of CFD techniques for studying particle suspension transport.

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modelling is a valuable tool for the design and optimisation of microfluidic devices. However complex mixed-phase flows such as suspended phase microbeads or biologicals are not easy too or necessarily correctly represented.

Many microfluidic applications including separation, concentration or even simple transport of suspended phases can be significantly influenced by small changes in  geometry, flow rate, external forces etc. and as such a detailed understanding of the flow behaviour of suspended phases is essential for accurate sample handling.

At the University of Hertfordshire we are seeking to extend CFD techniques via application of Discrete Element Modelling (DEM) to study particle transport within single and mixed-phase microfluidics.