Lift Induced Particle Migration in Dilute Suspensions

Abstract

Small particles moving near a wall experience particle-scale inertial lift forces in a direction normal to the wall and hence, migrate away from the wall. In addition, particles in suspensions experience hydrodynamic collision forces and migrate away from or towards the wall. These forces are critical in the biological context as they contribute to the separation between platelets and red blood cells that ensure the repair and integrity of blood vessels. These migration mechanisms have also been utilised to design and optimise micro-scale cell-sorting microfluidics for (e.g.) novel health detection systems and `smarter' industrial shear enhanced membrane filtration devices. Despite these im..