Fig. 1: Inertial focusing and forces responsible for cross-streamline migration.
From: Computational methods for inertial microfluidics: recent advances and future perspectives
a Two lift forces orthogonal to the flow direction act to equilibrate particles near the wall at Rep > 1. The shear-induced lift force Fs is directed down the velocity gradient and drives particles toward channel walls. The wall-induced lift force Fw directs particles away from the walls and drives particles toward the channel centerline. The balance of these two lift forces causes particles to equilibrate. Reproduced from ref. 7. Copyright © Royal Society of Chemistry. b Five focal points are influenced by elastic force (FE) in viscoelastic flows with negligible inertia and without shear thinning (e.g., Re < 0.01 and Wi > 0). Interaction between FE and inertial force results in the disappearance of corner positions in viscoelastic flows where inertia is significant (e.g., Re > 0.01 and Wi > 0); Reproduced from ref. 8, licensed under CC BY 4.0
