Fluid-Particle and Fluid-Structure Interactions in Microflows

Introduction to Navier/Stokes equations, assumptions, and simplifications. Analytical framework for calculating simple flows and numerical methods to solve and gain intuition for complex flows. Forces on particles in Stokes flow and finite-inertia flows. Flows induced around particles with and without finite inertia and implications for particle-particle interactions. Secondary flows induced by structures and particles in confined flows. Particle separations by fluid dynamic forces: field-flow fractionation, inertial focusing, structure-induced separations. Application concepts in internal biological flows and separations for biotechnology. Helps students become sufficiently fluent with fluid mechanics vocabulary and techniques, design and model microfluidic systems to manipulate fluids, cells, and particles, and develop strong intuition for how fluid and particles behave in arbitrarily structured microchannels over range of Reynolds numbers. Concurrently scheduled with course C155.

Letter grading.