Mesoscale particle-based simulations of flow in expansion–contraction microchannels at low Reynolds number

We computationally study the flow of Newtonian fluids through sinusoidal expansion-contraction microchannels at low Reynolds numbers. We first use a perturbation method to analytically derive series solutions for the stream function and volumetric flow rate that extend prior work Kitanidis and Dykaar, Transp. in Porous Media 26, 89-98 (1997) up to tenth order. We then employ two particle-based mesoscale methods, dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) and multiparticle collision dynamics (MPCD), to simulate the same flows. We find that the fluid velocity at the expansion and contraction points, as well as the volumetric flow rate, are in good agreement between DPD, MPCD, and the fourth-order series solution for a wide range of microchannel geometries. The mesoscale fluid models exhibit some slip at the walls, leading to a small but consistent overprediction of the velocity and volumetric flow rate. The series solution fails for short microchannel lengths and large amplitudes; we identify lengths and amplitudes for which it converges to a given order. Overall, we find that DPD and MPCD are convenient and reasonably accurate methods, particularly for microchannel geometries where the series solution fails or is cumbersome to implement.