Mathematical Modeling of transient Electroosmotic flow

in a rotating microchannel with wavy surface

 Table of contents

1. Introduction-
1.1 Background.
1.2 Electric Double layer.
1.3 Electro-osmotic flow.
1.4 Governing equations of flow.
1.5 Flow characteristics through rotating micro channel.
1.6 Applications.
1.7 Remarks.

2. Transient electro-osmotic flow in a rotating micro channel with wavy surface-

2.1 Introduction.
2.2 Literature review.
2.3 Explanation of mathematical model.
2.3.1 Problem statement.
2.3.2 Governing equations and flow analysis.
2.3.3 Analytical solution and methodology.
2.4 Result and discussions.
2.5 Conclusion.

3. Bibliography.
1. Introduction

1.1 Background

In the recent years, research on the flow through microchannel has gained
importance because of its exceptional phenomena occurring at the microscale level
such as the development of a thin electric diffuse layer, called electric double layer
(EDL) 1. The electric double layer concept is useful in the development of many
technologies in the area of electro-kinetic transport in microchannels.
Electroosmotic flow (EOF) is a phenomenon which is predominant in such
technologies is most significant when in small channels. Electroosmotic flow is an
essential component in chemical separation techniques, notably capillary
electrophoresis. This helps in understanding the microfluidic devices, soil analysis
and processing, and chemical analysis. In fuel cells, electro-osmosis causes protons
moving through a proton exchange membrane (PEM) to drag water molecules
from one side (anode) to the other (cathode).

1.2 Electric Double Layer

With the interaction of the ionized solution with static charges on the dielectric
surfaces a structure appears on the surface of an object. The double layer refers to
two parallel layers of charge surroundings the object. The first layer consists of
ions which are adsorbed onto the object due to chemical interactions. The second
layer which is loosely associated with the
object is made of ions attracted to the
surface charge via the Coulomb force,
electrically screening the first layer. It
has a significant influence on the
behaviour of colloids and other surfaces
in contact with solutions or solid-state
fast ion conductors. Formation of EDL is
a two-step process. In the first step, when
the molecules in the solution first
approach a virgin surface that has no pre-
existing surface charges, it may possible Figure-1.1
that the atoms/molecules in the solution directly interact with the atoms on the
solid surface to form strong overlap of electron clouds. Electron transfer occurs
first to make the “neutral” atoms on solid surface become charged. In the second
step, if there are ions existing in the liquid, such as H+ and OH-, the loosely
distributed negative ions in the solution would be attracted to migrate toward the
surface bonded ions due to electrostatic interactions, forming an EDL as shown in
fig 1.1.

1.3 Electro-osmotic flow

Due to the interactions of ions in the EDL Electroosmotic flow is generated. It is a

fundamental electrokinetic effect involving movement of the bulk solution against
a charged solid surface under the influence of an electric field. The cause of this
flow is by the Coulomb force induced by an electric field on net mobile electric
charge in a solution. When an electric field is applied to the fluid (usually via
electrodes placed at inlets and outlets), the net charge in the electrical double layer
is induced to move by the resulting Coulomb force. The resulting flow is termed as
Electroosmotic flow.

1.4 Governing equations of the flow

Electroosmotic flow through microchannels can be presented after the Navier-

Stokes equations2 with driving force deriving from the electric field and the
pressure differential. Thus the flow is governed by the continuity equation and
momentum.

The continuity equation expresses the fact that, per unit volume, the sum of all the
mass flowing in and out per unit time must be equal to the change in mass due to
change in density per unit time.
Momentum equation is the basic law of mechanics which states that mass time
acceleration is equal to the sum of the forces.

The Navier-stokes equation gives a mathematical explanation for the momentum

balance and conservation of mass for Newtonian fluids.

where, is the Knonecker unit tensor.

1.5 Flow Characteristics through rotating microchannel

Generally, microchannel can be defined as channel whose dimensions are less than
1 millimetre and greater than 1 micron. Above the max range the flow exhibits
behaviour that is same as most macroscopic flows. These are fabricated in many
materials- glass, polymers, silicon, and metals – using various processes including
surface micromachining, bulk micromachining, molding, embossing, and
conventional machining with micro cutters.

Two non-dimensional numbers, namely flow Reynolds number and rotational

Reynolds number characterize the physics of rotating channel flows. Reynolds
number is the ratio of the inertial force to viscous force and rotational Reynolds
number is the ratio of the rotating force to the viscous force.
1.6 Applications

Rotating microchannel has wide applications in centrifugal pumping- Centrifugal

pumping occurs when the liquid flows from the reservoir into the microchannels
due to the centrifugal force, directional switching and PCR amplifications. They
are used in microscale systems such as chemical, biomedical, and drug delivery
applications.

1.7 Remarks

Study on flow through microchannel is a prominent research area as it has many

applications in Bio-medical field. Such study gains more value with the
mathematical analysis. Using the previous knowledge on the basic governing laws
of physics on fluid flow and their characteristics, equations, an equation for
transient flow rate in x and y direction is obtained. With that equation the flow
through the microchannel is studied in depth.
2. Transient electro-osmotic flow in a rotating micro channel with wavy
surface

2.1 Introduction

A mathematical model is generated for the unsteady flow of fluid though a wavy
rotating microchannel, under the influence of electrokinetic force using the Debye-
Huckel (DH) approximation. Transient Navier-Stokes equation is solved exactly in
terms of the cosine Fourier series using the separation of variables method. The
effects of frame rotation frequency and Electroosmotic force on the fluid velocity
and the flow rate distribution are investigated. The rotating system is found to have
a damped oscillatory behaviour. It is found that the period and the decay rate of the
oscillations are independent of the DH parameter ( ). At high rotational
frequencies, a time dependent structure of the boundary layer is observed. It is also
observed that at higher rotation, the Coriolis force becomes dominant and a
significant secondary flow is generated and a parameter is defined to examine the
ratio of the flow in the y and x directions. It implied that both the angular velocity
and the Debye-Huckel parameters are influential on the induced transient
secondary flow in the y direction. At high values of the Debye-Huckel parameter
and the rotation parameter the flow rates in the x and y directions are found to be
identical.

2.2 Literature review

Behnam Gheshlaghi et al.3 provided an analytical solution for the unsteady flow of
fluid through a parallel plate microchannel using the DH approximation. This
study shows an excellent agreement was found between the analytical results and
the numerical results obtained. Hsu et al. 4 theoretically studied the flow of an
electrolyte solution through an elliptical microchannel to simulate the flow of a
fluid in a vein. They didn’t consider any assumptions regarding the thickness of the
double layer or the level of the electrical potential in order to present a more
realistic description for the biological systems. They also reported that with the
decrease in size of microchannel the effect of boundary conditions appear more
apparent. Using the method of Laplace transform Levine et al 5. derived an
analytical expression for the time periodic pulse Electroosmotic flow(EOF)
velocity of the triangle sawtooth of Maxwell fluid on circular microchannel. The
Flow and heat transfer in rotating microchannels are reviewed by Pratanu Roy et
al6. Through the review the applicability of analytical correlations for conventional
macro-sized channels to describe the rotating microchannel flow phenomena has
been discussed. Numerical results from the review showed that for low rotational
Reynolds number, the effect of Coriolis force is small. Y.Sui et al 7. studied the
fluid flow and heat transfer in wavy microchannels. The results of this study show
that when liquid coolant flows through the wavy microchannels, secondary flow
(Dean vortices) can be generated. It is found that the quantity and the location of
the vortices may change along the flow direction, leading to chaotic advection,
which can be greatly enhance the convective fluid mixing, and thus the heat
transfer performance of the present wavy microchannel is much better than that of
straight microchannel with same cross section.

To show a progress in the study on the flow through

microchannels, in the current study a mathematical solution is developed for
transient Electroosmotic flow in a rotating wavy microchannel. We define the
height of the microchannel as a wave equation. At first, a general solution of the
problem is obtained using the superposition principle and separation of variables
techniques. By using a cosine Fourier series expansion, the governing complex
partial differential (PDE) was solved to yield a closed-form solution. And then
analytical solutions for the velocity and flow rate were applied to some examples.
Structures of the boundary layer at higher rotational frequencies were studied and
the rotational induced secondary flows are discussed. Moreover, transient
secondary flow in the y direction is shown to be dependent on angular velocity and
the Debye-Huckel parameters.

2.3 Explanation of Mathematical Model

2.3.1 Problem statement

Transient Electrosmotic flow in a rotating microchannel with wavy surface is

studied with mathematical expressions. These expressions are analytically solved
for various geometries, flow properties and electrolyte solution characteristics
using the Debye-Huckel approximation.
2.3.2 Governing equations and flow analysis

Since the characteristics of EOF in microchannels are studied by solving continuity

and momentum equations in the presence of an electrical body force is given by
the Poisons-Boltzmann (PB) equation, they are considered to be the governing
equations.

The geometry for the present scenario is shown in Fig 2.1. It consists of two wavy
parallel plates separated by a distance of 2h, where h is given by

Figure 2.1: 3D view of the rotating wavy

microchannel with EOF

The bottom and top plates are located at and respectively. As

discussed earlier, the continuity equation and the modified Cauchy equation which
are the basic field equations governing the flow of an incompressible fluid between
two parallel walls of a wavy microchannel is given by

(1.a)

(1.b)

where, is the velocity vector, is the fluid density, is the time,

is the angular velocity vector, p is the modified pressure including
centrifugal force ( ), is the extra stress tensor, and b is the body
force per unit volume. Pressure gradient along the microchannel is considered to be
zero except for the centrifugal force that is included in the modified pressure. A
negligible convective term ( ) resulted in the Navier-Stokes equation due to
the fact that Reynolds number is less than unity in case of EOF.

2.3.3 Analytical solution and methodology

The net electric charge density in the fluid and the electric potential field
within the EDL are related as follows3:

(2)

where the term denoted the Boltzmann distribution of the net electric charge
density near to the charged walls.

(3)

where is the bulk concentration of the electrolytes in the liquid ( ),

is the electron charge, and is the valance. The body force per unit volume,
defined in equation (1.b) can be written as . In the present study, it is
assumed that the wall electrical potential is small compared to the thermal potential
of the charged species ( ). Hence, the DH linearization principle
( ) applied to obtain the following linear relation:

(4)
- is the DH parameter, also the inverse of the Debye length ( ) which can be
used when the Debye thickness is small but finite.
Following are the scaling factors used to simplify the analysis procedure:

(5)
Applying the scaling factors of (5) on equation (4), obtained a dimensionless form
of equation. On further solving this dimensionless differential equation subjected
to the boundary conditions of -

(6)
Similarly apply the scaling factors of (5) to equation (1.b) and (4) along with
considering the no-slip (zero velocities) boundary conditions on the channel walls,
the following dimensionless governing equations are obtained in the x and y
directions:

(7.a)

(7.b)
where is the dimensionless angular velocity.
To find the solution of (7.a) and (7.b) easier, write these hydrodynamic equation
into a single complex partial differential equation using a complex function of
with .

(8)
Using superposition property makes the solution of (8) to be obtained in a simpler
way:
(9)
where is the steady state component of the velocity profile and is the
transient component. Introducing equation (9) into equation (8) while imposing the
boundary and initial conditions, the following set of differential equations are
obtained for :

(10)
and for
 (11)
Applying the corresponding boundary conditions to (10), yields a steady state
component of the velocity profile as follows

(12)
Assume , with and being the temporal functions,
respectively so that the equation (11) can be solved by separation of variables
method.
The new form for is substituted into equation (11) to obtain the following
separated ordinary differential equation (ODEs) for z and t:

(13)
where, is the separation constant.

with is the solution of equation (13) obtained

satisfying the boundary conditions . Also,
(14)
-is the exact solution obtained for in equation (13) where is a constant.
Hence the expression for becomes:

(15)
From we have,

using mixed cosine fourier series the coefficient is determined as-

Finally the solution for is:

(16)

To get the expression for the normalized complex volume flow rate per width
integrate equation (16) with respect to z:

On solving further,

(17)
The terms and represent the transient flow rates in x and y direction,

respectively. Finally, is introduced as a parameter

representing the rotationally induced transient secondary flow in the y-direction.

2.4 Result and discussions

To get a clear view on the nature of the mathematical solution, various plots are
studied8. The variation of the dimensionless velocity field ( , ) as a
function of z for different values of DH parameter ( ) and dimensionless angular
velocity ( ) are discussed using centre-line plots obtained from math lab. This
transient centre-line velocity provides a better comparison of the velocity and
magnitude and behaviour at the centre of the channel at various (figure-1,2) and
(figure-3,4).In all the plots (figure-1 to 4) horizontal axis taken as the
dimensionless z parameter
( ).
 Figure-1: The velocity in the x-direction Figure-2: The velocity in the y-direction
for different values of when for different values of when

Figure-3: The velocity in the x-direction Figure-4: The velocity in the y-direction
for different values of when for different values of when

It is observed from figure-1that the velocity u in the positive (negative) x-direction

increases gradually with increase in the values. It shows that the flow becomes
flat near the central line of channel. From figure-2 the plot is showing the lateral
velocity negatively varied DH Parameter. Figure-3, 4 plotted with different values
of , with increase in values the velocity in x-direction decreases gradually and
in y-direction velocity varied negatively with angular velocity.
A plot for the transient flow rates
in x direction ( ) and y
direction ( ) versus time is
also obtained. Figure 5: The rate
along x-direction increases
gradually up to a point and then
becomes steady after that. A
direct relationship can be seen in
the graph between the flow rate
in x-direction and the DH Figure-5: Transient flow rate in x-direction
parameter.
( ) for different values of when

Figure 6: Similarly, the transient

flow rate in the y-direction shows
a negative rate with increase in
time; here also a direct
relationship can be seen in the
graph between the flow rate in x-
direction and the DH parameter.

Figure-6: Transient flow rate in y-direction

( ) for different values of when

Figure 7, 8: Now keeping the DH parameter constant, varying the angular velocity
the transient flow along the x and y-direction is obtained. An oscillatory behaviour
is observed in the both plots.
 Figure-7: Transient flow rate in x-direction Figure-8: Transient flow rate in x-direction

( ) for different values of when ( ) for different values of when

2.5 Conclusion
In this present work the nature of rotationally induced secondary flow in the
Electroosmotic flow in a wavy microchannel has been mathematically studied.
Equation for the non-dimensional velocity field and flow rate has been derived
through various mathematical techniques- separation of variables, mixed Fourier
cosine series. Then these analytical solutions are studied by plotting graphs of
velocity versus z and transient flow versus time in both x and y directions.
3. Bibliography

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Interface Science, 1975. 52, 136-149.
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