Simple microfluidic stagnation point flow geometries

A geometrically simple flow cell is proposed to generate different types of stagnation flows, using a separation flow and small variations of the geometric parameters. Flows with high local deformation rates can be changed from purely rotational, over simple shear flow, to extensional flow in a region surrounding a stagnation point. Computational fluid dynamic calculations are used to analyse how variations of the geometrical parameters affect the flow field. These numerical calculations are compared to the experimentally obtained streamlines of different designs, which have been determined by high speed confocal microscopy. As the flow type is dictated predominantly by the geometrical parameters, such simple separating flow devices may alleviate the requirements for flow control, while offering good stability for a wide variety of flow types.