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Microfluidics Based Microsystems pp 183–202Cite as

Transport of Droplets in Microfluidic Systems

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Abstract

Microfluidics provides for a convenient playground for experiments on dynamic systems. Two phase microfluidic systems present a new class of behaviors that are both complex and stable. The dynamics of flow of droplets through micro-networks are one of such examples: they are complicated because there are long-range interactions between the droplets that modify the pressure distribution in the channels, at the same time the resulting complicated dynamics are robust against experimental disturbances. Flow of droplets through microfluidic networks provide a route to nontrivial and reversible operations on streams of bubbles, logic operations on droplets. This lecture will introduce the rudimentary physics of Stokes flow in a simple pipe, the recent experiments and simulations on the flow of droplets and bubbles through microfluidic networks, and the vision of complex and automated microfluidic chips that perform combinatorial operations on miniaturized chemical reaction beakers – droplets.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Soft Condensed Matter, Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kasprzaka 44/52, 01-224, Warsaw, Poland

    P. Garstecki

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  1. P. Garstecki
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Correspondence to P. Garstecki .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Department of Mechanical Engineering, TOBB University of Economics and Technol, Soguzozu Cad. 43, Sogutozu, Ankara, 06560, Turkey

    S. Kakaç

  2. , Computer Sciences Department, Odessa State Academy of Refrigeration, Dvoryanskaya Str. 1/3, Odessa, 65082, Ukraine

    B. Kosoy

  3. , Department of Mechanical & Mechatronics, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, N2L 3G1, Canada

    D. Li

  4. , Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kasetsart University, 59 Moo. 1 Chiang Krer, Amphur Maung, Sakonnakhon, 47000, Thailand

    A. Pramuanjaroenkij

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Garstecki, P. (2010). Transport of Droplets in Microfluidic Systems. In: Kakaç, S., Kosoy, B., Li, D., Pramuanjaroenkij, A. (eds) Microfluidics Based Microsystems. NATO Science for Peace and Security Series A: Chemistry and Biology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9029-4_10

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