title: A microfluidic device to sort capsules by deformability: a numerical study.
abstract: Guided by extensive numerical simulations, we propose a microfluidic device that can sort elastic capsules by their deformability. The device consists of a duct embedded with a semi-cylindrical obstacle, and a diffuser which further enhances the sorting capability. We demonstrate that the device can operate reasonably well under changes in the initial position of the capsule. The efficiency of the device remains essentially unaltered under small changes of the obstacle shape (from semi-circular to semi-elliptic cross-section). Confinement along the direction perpendicular to the plane of the device increases its efficiency. This work is the first numerical study of cell sorting by a realistic microfluidic device.
authors.affiliation: Linné Flow Centre and SeRC (Swedish e-Science Research Centre), KTH Mechanics, 10044 Stockholm, Sweden. lailai@mech.kth.se.
authors.forename: Lailai
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Cecilia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rorai
authors.lastname: Dhrubaditya Mitra
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Brandt
mesh_terms: D002214:Capsules; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D008962:Models, Theoretical
chemical_list: D002214:Capsules