Generalized numerical formulations for multi-physics microfluidics-type applications

A generalized and unified mathematical and computational formulation for a wide array of microfluidics applications is presented in this paper. Recognizing the fact that microfluidics applications are becoming increasingly complex both in their nature and scope, advanced numerical techniques and modeling formulations are presented to evolve realistic simulation tools for practical applications. A generic approach is presented for unified modeling of transport phenomena and chemical behavior of weak, multivalent analytes in systems with multiple physics and multiple driving forces. A succinct formulation to model the stoichiometry of any multivalent weak analyte and its coupling with transport phenomena is presented and implemented. A domain decomposition-based multi-block finite-volume scheme is applied for numerical simulation. This approach lays the foundation for a versatile, scalable computational model for a broad array of microfluidics-type applications.