A Numerical Study of Fluid Flow and Mass Transport in a Microchannel Bioreactor

Abstract

Microchannel bioreactors have been used to manipulate the fluid microenvironment around cells. A numerical model of fluid flow, incorporating mass transport was develop in a microchannel bioreactor for single-culture, randomly mixed co-culture and micropatterned co-culture. The computational fluid dynamics code (FLUENT), with its User Defined Functions, was used to solve the numerical model. Combined non-dimensional parameters were developed to correlate the results of species concentration. The correlated results may be useful for general applications in design of microchannel bioreactors with different cell arrangements. The mass transport and shear stress were related in a generalized result. Various means to isolate their respective effects on cells were considered. Furthermore, surface roughness effects in a microchannel bioreactor for single-culture were investigated by using Finite Volume Method in curvilinear coordinate. Two types of roughness were considered: semicircle and triangle. Non-uniform species concentration at the base showed the surface roughness effects.