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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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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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9029-4_10
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