Introduction to Microfluidic Techniques

This chapter provides an introduction to concepts of microfluidics and microfluidic design. First, terms are defined and basic fluid dynamic relationships are introduced. Physical aspects and design consequences of working with fluid flow at the microscale are described. Then, the determination of the preferred scale for various applications of microfluidic devices is discussed. Finally, various kinds of fluid flow typical of microdevices are described in more detail, including gravity- and pressure-driven flow, flow through packed media, electrokinetic flow, capillary-driven flow, and absorption-driven flow. Keywords: microfluidics; microfluidic flow; fluid dynamics; microdevices