Numerical simulations and analysis of a micropump actuated by traveling plane waves

Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.702320

Traveling plane-wave deformations on a solid thin film immersed in a fluid can create viscous propulsion in the direction opposite to wave propagation. Here, we present modeling and analysis of a valveless dynamic micropump that incorporates a traveling plane-wave actuator. Our numerical model incorporates direct coupling between solid deforming boundaries and the fluid by means of a deforming mesh according to Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian implementation, and 2D unsteady Stokes equations to solve for the flow realized by the traveling-wave actuator in the channel. A commercial finite-element package, COMSOL, is used for simulations. Analysis is carried out to identify the effects of operating conditions such as wavelength, frequency and amplitude of the waves. For specified dimensions of the pump, maximum time-averaged flow rate, exit pressure, rate-of-work done on the fluid and efficiency of the micropump are calculated for different operating conditions.