摘要：The transport of particles and fuids through multichannel microfuidic networks is infuenced by
details of the channels. Because channels have micro-scale textures and macro-scale geometries, this
transport can difer from the case of ideally smooth channels. Surfaces of real channels have irregular
boundary conditions to which streamlines adapt and with which particle interact. In low-Reynolds
number fows, particles may experience inertial forces that result in trans-streamline movement
and the reorganization of particle distributions. Such transport is intrinsically 3D and an accurate
measurement must capture movement in all directions. To measure the efects of non-ideal surface
textures on particle transport through complex networks, we developed an extended feld-of-view
3D macroscope for high-resolution tracking across large volumes (25 mm × 25 mm × 2 mm) and
investigated a model multichannel microfuidic network. A topographical profle of the microfuidic
surfaces provided lattice Boltzmann simulations with a detailed feature map to precisely reconstruct
the experimental environment. Particle distributions from simulations closely reproduced those
observed experimentally and both measurements were sensitive to the efects of surface roughness.
Under the conditions studied, inertial focusing organized large particles into an annular distribution
that limited their transport throughout the network while small particles were transported uniformly
to all regions.
