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Hydrodynamic interactions in narrow channels


Type

Thesis

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Abstract

Particle-particle interactions are of paramount importance in every multi-body system as they determine the collective behaviour and coupling strength. Many well-known interactions like electro-static, van der Waals or screened Coulomb, decay exponentially or with negative powers of the particle spacing r. Similarly, hydrodynamic interactions between particles undergoing Brownian motion decay as 1/r in bulk, and are assumed to decay in small channels. Such interactions are ubiquitous in biological and technological systems. Here I confine multiple particles undergoing Brownian motion in narrow, microfluidic channels and study their coupling through hydrodynamic interactions. Our experiments show that the hydrodynamic particle-particle interactions are distance-independent in these channels. We also show that these interactions affect actively propelled particles via electrophoresis or gravity, resulting in non-linear transport phenomena. These findings are of fundamental importance for understanding transport of dense mixtures of particles or molecules through finite length, water-filled channels or pore networks.

Description

Date

2016-05-27

Advisors

Keyser, Ulrich F.

Keywords

hydrodynamics, nanofluidics, microfluidics, interactions, long-range, Brownian motion, diffusion, nano-channel, pore, transport, drug delivery

Qualification

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Awarding Institution

University of Cambridge

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