Computation of a Three-Dimensional Flow in a Square Microchannel: A Comparison between a Particle Method and a Finite Volume Method

Abstract

Traditional grid-based numerical methods, such as finite volume method (FVM), are notsuitable to simulate multiphase biofluids (such as blood) at the microscale level. Alternatively, meshfree Lagrangian methods can deal with two or more finely dispersed phases moving relatively to eachother. The Moving Particle Semi-Implicit Method (MPS), used in this study, is a deterministic particlemethod based on a Lagrangian technique to simulate incompressible flows. The advantages of particlemethods over traditional grid-based numerical methods have motivated several researchers to implement them into a wide range of studies in computational biomicrofluidics. The main aim of this paper is to evaluate theaccuracy of the MPS method by comparing it with numerical simulations performed by an FVM. Hence, simulations of aNewtonian fluid flowing through a constriction were performed for both methods. For the MPS, a section of the channelof 3011.511.5 m was simulated using periodic boundary conditions. The obtained results have provided indicationsthat, if the initial particle distance is sufficiently small, the MPS method can calculate accurately velocity profiles in theproposed channel.