FIG. 3.

Results for elasto-inertial flow (0.05 w/v% of PEO in PBS) (a) and (b) lateral focusing position as a function of the cell speeds ( $Re$) and color coded by blockage ratio, (β). (a) Results in a low aspect ratio channel. The gray line at $\frac{y}{D_h}$ = 0.3 represents the cutoff, where cells at 0.3 <  $\frac{y}{D_h}$ are classified as focused in outer clusters, while cells at $\frac{y}{D_h}$ < 0.3 are classified as focused in inner clusters. (b) Results in a high aspect ratio channel. It should be noted that there is a significant spread in the data for locations 1 and 3 at $20<Re$ because of unavoidable variations when centering the focal planes in the y direction. The arrows indicate an increase in the blockage ratio. (c) Schematic illustrating distinct cells focusing behaviors below and above the transition Reynolds number $Re=20$. (d) Histogram of blockage ratio: Probability distribution of blockage ratio for cells focused in the inner cluster and outer cluster in a low aspect ratio channel at $5<Re<15$ was found to be indistinguishable.