Simulation of an extruded quadrupolar dielectrophoretic trap using meshfree approach

Abstract

A numerical simulation of an extruded quadrupolar dielectrophoretic (DEP) trap is presented in this paper. To compute the electric field distribution of the trap, a meshfree collocation technique, termed as radial point collocation method (RPCM), is formulated. The simulation of the particle behaviors in the DEP trap is conducted by superimposing the DEP simulation results obtained using RPCM and the hydrodynamic results obtained using a commercial CFD package. The present model has been validated by experimental data and simulation results obtained using other numerical methods. The model is able to determine the full force field within the trap domain and to predict the trap strength under different electrode voltages. The present model has been used for parametric study of the extruded quadruplar DEP trap. Meshfree technique used in this work has apparent advantages over traditional finite element method during the design optimization process because of the absence of remeshing. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.