Modeling of acoustically augmented electroosmotic flows in microchannels

Effective mixing is restricted in electrosmotically driven flows in microchannels. We investigate the effectiveness and applicability of acoustic augmentation in such flow geometries for enhanced mixing. The proposed device geometry can be exploited to integrate micropumps into complex microfluidic chips improving the portability of micro-total-Analysis systems along with the capabilities of actively controlling acoustics and electrokinetics. A computational study of acoustically augmented electroosmotic flow is carried out where flexural plate waves (FPW) are considered. A transient analysis is performed for microchannels with a flexural plate wave with an applied electric field parallel to the channel walls. The nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann and Laplace equations are used to model the induced electrical double layer (EDL) potential and the applied electric potential. The model predictions are compared with results available in the literature for electroosmotic flow, and for the flows generated by acoustic waves.