Pairwise interactions in inertially-driven one-dimensional microfluidic crystals

Abstract

In microfluidic devices, inertia drives particles to focus on a finite number of inertial focusing streamlines. Particles on the same streamline interact to form one-dimensional microfluidic crystals (or "particle trains"). Here we develop an asymptotic theory to describe the pairwise interactions underlying the formation of a 1D crystal. Surprisingly, we show that particles assemble into stable equilibria, analogous to the motion of a damped spring. Although previously it has been assumed that particle spacings scale with particle diameters, we show that the equilibrium spacing of particles depends on the distance between the inertial focusing streamline and the nearest channel wall, and therefore can be controlled by tuning the particle radius.