Bubble-induced damping in displacement-driven microfluidic flows

Bubble damping in displacement-driven microfluidic flows was theoretically and experimentally investigated for a Y-channel microfluidic network. The system was found to exhibit linear behavior for typical microfluidic flow conditions. The bubbles induced a low-pass filter behavior with a characteristic cutoff frequency that scaled proportionally with flow rate and inversely with bubble volume and exhibited a minimum with respect to the relative resistances of the connecting channels. A theoretical model based on the electrical circuit analogy was able to predict experimentally observed damping of fluctuations with excellent agreement. Finally, a flowmeter with high resolution (0.01 mu L/min) was demonstrated as an application of the bubble-aided stabilization. This study may aid in the design of many other bubble-stabilized microfluidic systems.