BioChip J.
(2019) 13(1): 53-63
DOI 10.1007/s13206-019-3110-1
Review Article
A Minireview on Inertial Microfluidics Fundamentals:
Inertial Particle Focusing and Secondary Flow
1,2,3,
Aram J. Chung *
Received: 30 January, 2019 / Accepted: 01 March, 2019 / Published online: 08 March, 2019
ⒸThe Korean BioChip Society and Springer 2019
Abstract In 1961, Segre and Silberberg first report-
ed the tubular pinch effect and numerous theoretical
studies were subsequently published to explain the
inertial particle migration phenomenon. Presently, as
fluid mechanics meets micro- and nanotechnology,
theoretical studies on intrinsic particle migration and
flow phenomena associated with inertia are being
experimentally tested and validated. This collective
study on the fluid-particle-structure phenomena in mi-
crochannels involving fluid inertia is called, “inertial
microfluidics”. Beyond theoretical studies, now iner-
tial microfluidics has been gaining much attention
from various research fields ranging from biomedi-
cine to industry. Despite the positive contributions,
there is still a lack of clear understanding of intrinsic
inertial effects in microchannels. Therefore, this mini-
review introduces the mechanisms and underlying
physics in inertial microfluidic systems with specific
focuses on inertial particle migration and secondary
flow, and outlines the opportunities provided by iner-
tial microfluidics, along with an outlook on the field.
Keywords: Inertial microfluidics, Fluid inertia, Iner-
tial particle migration, Secondary flow, Inertial mi-
crofluidic physics
1
School of Biomedical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02841,
Republic of Korea
2
Department of Bioengineering, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Republic
of Korea
3
Department of Bio-convergence Engineering, Korea University, Seoul
02841, Republic of Korea
*Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to
A.J. Chung ( ac467@korea.ac.kr)
Introduction
In 1961, Segre and Silberberg first reported that ran-
domly incoming millimeter-sized particles in a fluid-
ic channel can laterally migrate towards the channel
wall and form a tubular annulus positioned in a 1 cm
diameter tube. This was termed as the tubular pinch
effect1. This observation surprised the research com-
munity because until then it was believed that all sus-
pended particles move towards a low shear region,
which is the centerline of the channel. Subsequently,
there were many theoretical investigations to physi-
cally explain this unexpected lateral migration be-
havior of particles, which originated from fluid iner-
tia2-8. Since fluid mechanics met MEMS (microelec-
tromechanical systems) technology, numerous resea-
rchers not only experimentally have validated the the-
oretical particle migration phenomenon in smaller
dimensions (i.e., in the micrometer scale) of micro-
fluidic channels, but also reported various applica-
tions demonstrating the power of fluid inertia that
existed in the microchannels9. This collective study
involving with fluid inertia in microchannels and their
applications is now commonly referred to as “inertial
microfluidics”.
Inertial microfluidics is a relatively new field of
study, which investigates the behaviors and proper-
ties of the interactions between: (1) fluids with parti-
cles and/or (2) fluids with structures where both iner-
tial and viscous forces are significant. The field of
inertial microfluidics has been growing rapidly. As of
December 2018, more than 720 articles with a total
of approximately 4,000 citations were retrieved in the
Web of Knowledge provided by Thomson Reuters using
54
Figure 1. Field growth. Bar graph representing the number of
publications (green) and citations (gray) each year containing
the word “inertia* and microfluidic*” according to the ISI Web
of Knowledge, as of Dec 2018.
the keywords “inertia or inertial” and “microfluidic or
microfluidics” (see Figure 1). The field has also been
gaining much attention from various research fields
including biomedicine to industry for its high-
throughput, and predictable and precise focusing na-
ture; and also due to its great potential for complete
automation.
Despite their positive contributions, there is still a
lack of clear understanding of the inertial effects in
microfluidics. There are many reviews but the under-
lying mechanisms where described either too com-
plex or brief. More surprisingly, still many take it for
granted that microfluidic flow is always Stokes flow.
In traditional microfluidics, inertia has generally been
ignored because the associated Reynolds number (Re
= ρULc /µ: a dimensionless parameter describing the
ratio of inertial and viscous forces, where ρ is the fluid
density, U is the mean flow velocity, Lc is the charac-
teristic length of the channel, and µ is the fluid vis-
cosity) is close to zero due to the channel scale and low
flow velocity. This assumption is valid for conventi-
onal microchannel flows; however, Stokes approxi-
mation (0 = −∇p + μ/ρ∇2u for stationary incom-
pressible Newtonian fluid flow where ∇p is the pres-
sure gradient, and u is the flow velocity) alone cannot
completely capture and describe the inertial effects.
Therefore, in this review, I will introduce the ba-
sics of inertial microfluidic physics intuitively, out-
line the opportunities provided by this field, and sum-
marize with my perspectives and outlook. This intro-
ductory review will be beneficial for those who are
BioChip J. (2019) 13(1): 53-63
new to inertial microfluidics, aiming to understand
inertial microfluidic phenomena. Note that this re-
view mainly discusses the inertial effects for Newto-
nian fluids, and refer to other significant review arti-
cles9-15 for topics and applications that have not been
covered in this review.
Inertial Effects
Fluid Inertia
For a fully developed and steady-state pressure-driven
flow through a tube of circular cross-section, the ve-
locity distribution can be obtained by solving the Na-
vier–Stokes equation (ρu·∇u = −∇p + μ∇2u). Be-
cause of the geometric simplifications (no radial and
swirl velocity components; ur = uθ = 0, the flow is
axisymmetric; ∂/∂θ = 0, and velocity is constant; ful-
ly developed in axial velocity; and ∂uz/∂z = 0), the
convection term becomes zero and the Navier–Stokes
equation is reduced to a Hagen–Poiseuille equation
(∇p = μ∇2uz). The steady-state Hagen–Poiseuille
equation implies that there is neither convective mo-
mentum transfer nor acceleration, and therefore, no
inertial effects regardless of the Reynolds number.8
Note that the flow is assumed to remain in the lami-
nar regime (i.e., Re < 2100). As a result, there will be
a situation where Re is nonzero but no inertia is pre-
sented. This becomes a paradox for inertial microflu-
idics because it suggests no inertial effects in the mi-
crochannel. However, fluid inertia does exist, and
this paradox breaks down if a small perturbation(s) is
provided, resulting in a non-zero convection term
(u·∇ u ≠ 0). Therefore, at moderate Re (typically, O
(100-102)), inertial effects are observed in micro-
channels if: (1) the fluid contains particle(s) and (2) a
channel curvature exists. Under these circumstances,
inertia will cause the particle(s) to migrate and/or
create transverse flow motions (e.g., Dean flow16 in a
curved channel). The first inertial effect is referred to
as “inertial particle focusing” and the latter is called
“secondary flow”. Further details are discussed sub-
sequently.
Inertial Particle Focusing
Particle Focusing in Straight Tube and Square
Channels
Inertial particle focusing is a “passive” phenomenon
in which the particles (or cells) flowing in microchan-
nels laterally migrate to specific positions without any