Particle flow characterization for a microfluidic device for cell-based assay

Fluid velocity fields and particle motions were experimentally studied for the application of microfluidics in chip-based cell assays. muPIV measurements were conducted on diverging microchannels and a microfluidic cell trapping device to characterize the respective fluid flow fields. A highspeed camera was then used to capture and characterize the motion of particles released into the corresponding flows. The distributions of the particle pathlines when undergoing divergence were shown to have negligible inertial effects. Whereas deviations of pathlines within the cell trapping device and were attributed to the design of the macro-micro interfaces in the packaging.