Diffusion-Driven Colloidal Deposition: From Flat Plate Sensors to Occluded Pipes

Diffusive driven transport and deposition processes affect real-world applications, from microfluidics based bio-sensors to large scale pipelines in the petroleum industry.  Colloidal and molecular deposition can therefore either be a desirable phenomenon to be measured, or a detrimental result to be reversed.  In either case, a fundamental understanding of deposition dynamics will both aid applications and inspire experimental design.  In this talk, we present an analysis of the deposition of a dispersed-phase fluid onto a flat plate from a suspension in shear flow.  According to our model, the profile of the deposit is governed by an inhomogeneous Bergers equation that yields an analytical self-similar solution.  We also consider the case of deposition onto a pipe wall under parabolic flow conditions, exploring the parametric dependence of the occluded flow that results.  We will discuss applications of this work to industrial settings.  In particular, the parametric dependence of the transition between slight and severe clogging is of great interest for flow assurance in the petroleum industry.