Effects of electric charge on osmotic flow across periodically arranged circular cylinders

Masako Sugihara-Seki, Takeshi Akinaga, Tomoaki Itano

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    An electrostatic model is developed for osmotic flow across a layer consisting of identical circular cylinders with a fixed surface charge, aligned parallel to each other so as to form an ordered hexagonal arrangement. The expression of the osmotic reflection coefficient is derived for spherical solutes with a fixed surface charge suspended in an electrolyte, based on low-Reynolds-number hydrodynamics and a continuum, point-charge description of the electric double layers. The repulsive electrostatic interaction between the surface charges with the same sign on the solute and the cylinders is shown to increase the exclusion region of solute from the cylinder surface, which enhances the osmotic flow. Applying the present model to the study of osmotic flow across the endothelial surface glycocalyx of capillary walls has revealed that this electrostatic model could account well for the reflection coefficients measured for charged macromolecules, such as albumin, in the physiological range of charge density and ion concentration.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)174-192
    Number of pages19
    JournalJournal of Fluid Mechanics
    Volume664
    Issue numberDecember 2010
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 10 Dec 2010

    Bibliographical note

    © Cambridge University Press 2010

    Keywords

    • biomedical flows
    • biological fluid dynamics
    • low-Reynolds-number flows

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