摘要
In this study the Zweifach-Fung effect is investigated in a Y-shaped bifurcation when the clearance between the rigid spherical particle and the walls is small compared to both channel’s and particle’s radii.Single-and two-particle systems are studied using resolved computational fluid dynamics coupled to discrete element method to obtain a two-dimensional map of the initially positioned particles that would enter each child branch.In all cases,the path selection of the sphere depends on its two-dimensional positioning far from the bifurcation region in the parent channel.Increasing the flow rate ratio or decreasing the Reynolds number intensifies the Zweifach-Fung bifurcation effect in a single-particle system.Similarly,in two-particle systems where non-contact particle-particle interaction is present,decreasing the particle-to-particle distance reduces the bifurcation effect,while changing the Reynolds number has the same influence as in the single-particle systems.The results provide insight for optimizing the flow characteristics in bifurcating microchannels to separate the suspended particles.
