Flow of complex biofluids in microfluidic devices

Abstract

The potential of BioMEMS and Lab-on-a-chip is enormous especially in biomedical area. This thesis experimentally observes and analyzes the flow of complex fluids in microfluidic devices under various conditions for the purpose to optimize the design of BioMEMS or Lab-on-a-chip devices. A series of experiments are designed and carried out to test the hypothesis of a??nodal shifta?? when two flowing miscible fluids are subjected to ultrasonic wave field used for particle separation. Results did not confirm the hypothesis in current experimental setup but pointed to possible utilization of ultrasonic in micro mixing process. Besides, in order to reduce bubble problems in microfluidic devices, the mechanisms of bubble formation and reduction are studied. Steps are introduced to alleviate bubble problems in micro-devices at the end.