Inertial migration of neutrally buoyant particles in square channels at high Reynolds numbers

Abstract

KEY WORDS suspensions, inertial focusing, particle-laden flows, high Reynolds numbers SHORT SUMMARY The inertial migration of particles in square channel flows at the micro-scale has been deeply investigated in the last two decades. The well-known four equilibrium positions are located near the center of each channel face at moderate Reynolds numbers [1]. More recently, Miura et al. [2] revealed experimentally the presence of eight equilibrium positions in millimetric square channels for Reynolds numbers higher than 250. The aim of the present work is to extend these results obtained at millimeter scale to the micrometer scale. To this end, in situ visualization of particles flowing in square micro-channels at Reynolds numbers ranging from 5 to 300 have been conducted and analyzed.