Inertial migration of aerosol particles in three-dimensional microfluidic channels

In recent years, manipulation of particles by inertial microfluidics has attracted significant attention. However, most studies focused on inertial focusing of particles suspended within liquid phase, in which the ratio of the density of the particle to that of the medium is O(1). The investigation on manipulation of aerosol particles in an inertial microfluidics is very limited. In this study, we numerically investigate the aerosol particle's motion in a 3D straight microchannel with rectangular cross section by fully resolved simulation of the particle–air flow. The air flow is modeled by the Navier–Stokes equations. The particle's motions, including translation and rotation, are governed, respectively, by the Newton's second law and the Euler equations without using any approximation models for the lift and drag forces. The coupled mathematical model is numerically solved by combining immersed boundary with lattice Boltzmann method (IB-LBM). We find that the Reynolds number (Re), the particle's initial position, particle's density and diameter are the influential parameters in this process. The equilibrium positions and their stabilities of aerosols are different from those suspended in liquid.