Description

The image exhibits the nature of the flow field through a specifically designed passage, or a cross-microchannel, with a Newtonian fluid in a specific condition. When studying fluids in the context of fluid mechanics, they can fall into one of two general classifications, Newtonian and non-Newtonian. A Newtonian fluid is one that that has a resistance to flow that is independent of how fast the flow is, whereas a non-Newtonian fluid has a resistance to flow that depends on the flow speeds. The streaks seen are the multiple results of the particles from the newtonian fluid flowing through the microchannel.

The symmetry displayed in this piece is results in the occurrence of an isolated singularity point at the precise center of the flow field. A singularity in science are ubiquitous and often provide a method to probe basic theories and gain fundamental insights into a particular problem. This research helps identify how fluids behave in this type of flow and how this type of flow is relevant t different existing types of important flow, such as those in the human body. Studying fluids (non-Newtonian in particular) and their behavior in extensional type flows is really important because it can be used to model of a lot of biologically relevant flows. This experiment is meant to be a fundamental study that tries to draw a connection to how non-Newtonian fluids behave in this type of flow to that of more biologically relevant scenarios.