Study on pH-sensitive hydrogel micro-valves: A fluid–structure interaction approach

Abstract

Hydrogels are categorized as soft materials that undergo large deformation when they are subjected to even minor external forces. In this work, the performance of a variety of micro-valves, based on pH-sensitive hydrogel jackets coated on rigid pillars, is studied considering the gel deformation under fluid flow, employing fluid–structure interaction simulations. In this regard, an analytical solution to plane-strain inhomogeneous swelling of a cylindrical jacket is proposed. This is used as a tool to validate the finite element model. Then, a micro-valve consisting of one hydrogel jacket is studied in various inlet pressure and pH values performing fluid–structure interaction simulations. Thereafter, a variety of jacket patterns are investigated in order to identify the effects of the pattern on the micro-valve performance for various fluid stream pressures and pH values. The leakage pressure of the valves is also computed for each of the patterns. Fluid–structure interaction simulation is found to be essential to accurate design of the hydrogel-based microfluidic devices.