A NEW COMPUTATIONAL MODEL TO AUGMENT THE DESIGN OF MICROFLUIDIC SEPARATIONS: ELECTRIC FIELD ASSISTED, HYDRODYNAMIC CHROMATOGRAPHY

• Main Author: Wells, Jeffrey D
• Format: Others
• Published: DigitalCommons@CalPoly 2012
• Subjects: Microfluidic; Separation; Computational; Model; Like-Charged; Other Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/801; https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1846&context=theses

This project encompasses the implementation of a computational model to simulate the microfluidic separation of like-charged particles in a continuous flow environment. By accomplishing this task the model can be used to optimize future fractionations by tailoring the process parameters to the properties of the target particles. The primary goal of this project is to develop a vectorized code within Matlab® that captures a sufficient quantity of the physics in separations to assist with the optimization and design of microfluidic systems. This project differs from other computational models in that it utilizes a personal computer to run the simulation in an optimized format rather than utilizing a highly parallelized system for the computing. Based on previous literature from computational models of fluid-particle systems a model was developed to simulate the separation process. Computational experiments of separation processes were conducted with this model to validate the simulation and to investigate the impacts of microfluidic fractionation parameters on the purity and yield of like charged particles in a continuous flow environment. By adapting the input parameters the separation results can be customized for the particles in the sample. The implementation and use of this this model can improve the efficiency of separation processes.