This is a new area for the lab. Microfluidics involves flows at very low Reynolds numbers. Despite Re being low these flows can result in complex unstable flows featuring sharp gradients and small-scales. Hence, our high-fidelity numerical methods may be able to capture these “turbulent-like” flow features as seen in our simulations of electrokinetic instability shown below.
[youtube_sc url=”http://youtu.be/3l58r8rFyy0″ ratio=”4:3″ color=”white” theme=”light” modestbranding=”1″ loop=”1″ rel=”0″]We are also working on applying LBM to study electorheological fluids in channels