Rezai, PouyaEilaghi, ArminCharjouei Moghadam, Mohammad2022-03-032022-03-032021-122022-03-03http://hdl.handle.net/10315/39136Sorting and separation of small substances such as cells, microorganisms, and micro- and nano-particles from a heterogeneous mixture is a common sample preparation step in many areas of biology, biotechnology, and medicine. Portability and inexpensive design of microfluidic-based sorting systems have benefited many of these biomedical applications. Accordingly, we have investigated microparticle hydrodynamics in fluids with various rheological behaviors (i.e., Newtonian, shear-thinning viscoelastic and shear-thickening non-Newtonian) flowing in straight microchannels. Numerical models were developed to simulate particles trajectories in Newtonian water and shear-thinning polyethylene oxide (PEO) solutions. The validated models were then used to perform numerical parametric studies and non-dimensional analysis on the Newtonian inertia-magnetic and shear-thinning elasto-inertal focusing regimes. Finally, the straight microfluidic device that was tested for Newtonian water and shear-thinning viscoelastic PEO solution, were adopted to experimentally study microparticle behavior in SiO2/Water shear-thickening nanofluid.Author owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.Biomedical engineeringElectronic Thesis or Dissertation2022-03-03MicrofluidicsNon-NewtonianViscoelasticNumerical modelingShear-thickeningMicroparticlesMicrochannelShear-thinningParticle sorting