Advances and applications on microfluidic velocimetry techniques

The development and analysis of the performance of microfluidic components for lab-on-a-chip devices are becoming increasingly important because microfluidic applications are continuing to expand in the fields of biology, nanotechnology, and manufacturing. Therefore, the characterization of fluid behavior at the scales of microand nanometer levels is essential. A variety of microfluidic velocimetry techniques like micron-resolution Particle Image Velocimetry (lPIV), particle-tracking velocimetry (PTV), and others have been developed to characterize such microfluidic systems with spatial resolutions on the order of micrometers or less. This article discusses the fundamentals of established velocimetry techniques as well as the technical applications found in literature.