Flow Field Analysis for Plant Vessel and Bionic Structural Microfluidic Chip

Abstract:

Microfluidic chips have been widely used in various of areas, such as biology, chemistry, medical science and so on. As one of the key techniques of microfluidic chips, the technique of micro driven of the water has been studied by experts all around the world for years. Of all kinds of the driven methods, the power costed by bionic driven is lowest. Moreover, as xylem is the main channel to transport the water in a tree, the mechanism of water transportation has been always an important issue in the study of physiological plant ecology. In this paper, the models of a single vessel element with different pit numbers (5 pits, 10 pits and 20 pits) or diameters(4µm and 7µm) were established according to the xylem and the pits’ structure. The 3-dimensional flow distribution was analyzed by ANSYS 12.0 calculating by realizable κ-ε algorithm. The pressure distribution contours and the velocity distribution contours of a single vessel element could be obtained after calculated by the software. According to the results, the flow field in a single vessel element of the xylem was studied. In addition, the influence of pits on the pressure and velocity were analyzed. The results showed that the influence on pressure and velocity is less when the diameter is smaller. As the number of pits on the vessel increased, the influence on the distribution of pressure and velocity is greater. Based on the result of numerical simulation of vessel element, a bionic structural microfluidic chip was designed and then analyzed by ANSYS 12.0.

• Periodical: Key Engineering Materials (Volumes 645-646)
• Pages: 1345-1350
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.645-646.1345
• Online since: May 2015
• Authors: Chong Zheng, Cui Yan Guo, Jing Wei Xue, Shi Bing Liu, Tao Chen*
• Keywords: Numerical Simulation, Pits, Vessel Element, Water Transport

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