Particle transport in Poiseuille flow in narrow channels

Particle-tracking experiments were performed to validate a model [Staben, M.E., Zinchenko, A.Z., Davis, R.H., 2003. Motion of a particle between two parallel plane walls in low-Reynolds-number Poiseuille flow. Phys. Fluids 15, 1711-1733] for neutrally buoyant spherical particles convected by a Poiseuille flow in a thin microchannel for particles as large as dp/H = 0.95, where dp is the particle diameter and H is the channel width (narrow dimension). The measured and predicted velocities agree within experimental error and show that a particle's velocity is more retarded when it is larger and/or closer to a channel wall. The particle distribution across the channel for a blunt entrance shows a focusing of small particles away from the walls and towards the center of the channel, whereas the particle distribution for an offset-angled entrance is slightly skewed towards the wall encountered first in the entrance region. As a result, the average particle velocities for the blunt entrance exceed those for the angled entrance. Moreover, due to the depletion of particles from the slow-moving region within one radius of the wall, the average particle velocity exceeds the average fluid velocity unless the particle diameter exceeds about 80% of the channel width.