The purpose of this paper is to design a microfluidic apparatus capable of providing controlled flow conditions suitable for red blood cell (RBC) aggregation analysis. The linear velocity engendered from the controlled flow provides constant shear rates used to qualitatively analyze RBC aggregates. The design of the apparatus is based on numerical and experimental work. The numerical work consists of 3D numerical simulations performed using a research computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver, Nek5000, while the experiments are conducted using a microparticle image velocimetry system. A Newtonian model is tested numerically and experimentally, then blood is tested experimentally under several conditions (hematocrit, shear rate, and fluid suspension) to be compared to the simulation results. We find that using a velocity ratio of 4 between the two Newtonian fluids, the layer corresponding to blood expands to fill 35% of the channel thickness where the constant shear rate is achieved. For blood experiments, the velocity profile in the blood layer is approximately linear, resulting in the desired controlled conditions for the study of RBC aggregation under several flow scenarios.
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June 2014
Technical Briefs
Design of a Microfluidic System for Red Blood Cell Aggregation Investigation
R. Mehri,
R. Mehri
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
e-mail: rmehri@uottawa.ca
University of Ottawa
,Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5
, Canada
e-mail: rmehri@uottawa.ca
1Corresponding author.
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C. Mavriplis,
C. Mavriplis
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
University of Ottawa
,Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5
, Canada
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M. Fenech
M. Fenech
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
University of Ottawa
,Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5
, Canada
Search for other works by this author on:
R. Mehri
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
e-mail: rmehri@uottawa.ca
University of Ottawa
,Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5
, Canada
e-mail: rmehri@uottawa.ca
C. Mavriplis
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
University of Ottawa
,Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5
, Canada
M. Fenech
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
University of Ottawa
,Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5
, Canada
1Corresponding author.
Manuscript received July 15, 2013; final manuscript received April 1, 2014; accepted manuscript posted April 7, 2014; published online April 18, 2014. Assoc. Editor: Jeffrey Ruberti.
J Biomech Eng. Jun 2014, 136(6): 064501 (5 pages)
Published Online: April 18, 2014
Article history
Received:
July 15, 2013
Revision Received:
April 1, 2014
Accepted:
April 7, 2014
Citation
Mehri, R., Mavriplis, C., and Fenech, M. (April 18, 2014). "Design of a Microfluidic System for Red Blood Cell Aggregation Investigation." ASME. J Biomech Eng. June 2014; 136(6): 064501. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4027351
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