Meshless analysis of steady-state electro-osmotic transport

Abstract

An emerging technology in the area of microsystems is micro-total analysis systems (/spl mu/TAS) for biological sample analysis. We have simulated electro-osmosis-a common transport mechanism within these devices-by developing meshless techniques. Numerical simulation of electro-osmotic transport requires the solution of the Laplace equation, the Poisson-Boltzmann equation and the incompressible Stokes or Navier-Stokes equations. We describe the development and implementation of meshless techniques for all the governing equations. In particular we introduce a stabilized Stokes solver for very-low Reynolds number flows and a multistep Navier-Stokes solver for a wide range of Reynolds number flows. We have analyzed electro-osmotic transport in three geometries typically encountered in biological devices: a straight channel, a cross-shaped intersection, and a T-shaped intersection.