Fig. 1.

Interactions governing the behavior of solid particles in microchannels (Wu and Kuhn 2014). a Deposition of particles is initiated by particle–fluid interactions transporting the solid to the microchannel wall where it finally sticks due to a dominating particle–surface interaction. b Increasing the particle–fluid interaction by, e.g., increasing the fluid velocity will lead to resuspension. c The particles will agglomerate in the bulk of the fluid by particle–particle interactions; however, agglomerate break-up can again occur when the particle–fluid interactions overcome the inter-particle interactions. d The clogging phenomena itself is governed by all three interactions, and usually occurs via bridging of a constricted microchannel cross-section.

Reproduced with permission from Wu and Kuhn (2014). Copyright 2014 Tekno Scienze Srl