Numerical study of particle chains of a large number of randomly distributed DEP particles using iterative dipole moment method

BACKGROUND: Dielectrophoresis (DEP) has widely been used to manipulate bio‐particles in microfluidic system. The calculation of DEP interaction of a large number of dense particles has been a challenging issue. The Maxwell stress tensor (MST) method is strictly accurate in theory for DEP forces, but the complicated numerical computation is very difficult to implement. An iterative dipole moment method (IDM) is proposed in this paper to study the interaction forces and particle chains of a large number of dense particles in a uniform electrical field. RESULTS: The numerical example of ten particles interaction confirms that the IDM is able to calculate particle interaction forces in good agreement with the MST method. Particle chains of fifty randomly distributed dense particles in a uniform electrical field were simulated using the IDM method and were well consistent with experimental observations. Particle chains of different particle sizes are also investigated. CONCLUSION: The interaction forces of DEP particles calculated by the IDM method are found to be in good agreement with those obtained using the Maxwell stress tensor (MST) method and easy to implement. The simulated particle chains show essential characteristics well consistent with experimental observations. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry