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Inertial active particles in a Poiseuille flow: Upstream swimming and particle separation
1Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Department of Physics, Kharagpur 721302, India.
Physical Review. E
|January 21, 2026
Summary
Inertia influences active Brownian particle (ABP) transport in microfluidic flows. Mass-dependent trajectories emerge, enabling selective control and mass-based particle separation in lab-on-a-chip devices.
Area of Science:
- Physics
- Fluid Dynamics
- Soft Matter Physics
Background:
- Particle transport is governed by surrounding fluid flow in natural and artificial systems.
- Active Brownian particles (ABPs) are model systems for self-propelled entities in fluids.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate the transport characteristics of inertial ABPs in a microfluidic channel under Poiseuille flow.
- Analyze the impact of particle inertia on diffusive behavior and emergent dynamical regimes.
Main Methods:
- Simulated inertial active Brownian particles (ABPs) in a microfluidic channel.
- Applied Poiseuille flow to the system.
- Varied particle inertia (m) and noise strength.
Main Results:
- Observed upstream movement and negative average velocity in the overdamped regime (m→0).
- Identified an optimal inertia (m) yielding maximum positive average velocity and effective diffusion coefficient (D_eff).
- Found D_eff decreases with increasing noise strength at higher m values.
Conclusions:
- Particle inertia significantly modifies swimmer-flow interactions, creating new dynamical regimes.
- Mass-dependent trajectories offer potential for selective particle control and separation.
- Harnessing inertia in microfluidic devices can advance lab-on-a-chip technologies.
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