Tablet Disintegration and Dispersion under In Vivo-like Hydrodynamic Conditions

Disintegration and dispersion are functional properties of tablets relevant for the desired API release. The standard disintegration test (SDT) described in different pharmacopoeias provides only limited information on these complex processes. It is considered not to be comparable to the biorelevant conditions due to the frequent occurrence of high hydrodynamic forces, among other reasons. In this study, 3D tomographic laser-induced fluorescence imaging (3D Tomo-LIF) is applied to analyse tablet disintegration and dispersion. Disintegration time (DT) and time-resolved particle size distribution in close proximity to the tablet are determined in a continuously operated flow channel, adjustable to very low fluid velocities. A case study on tablets of different porosity, which are composed of pharmaceutical polymers labelled with a fluorescent dye, a filler, and disintegrants, is presented to demonstrate the functionality and precision of the novel method. DT results from 3D Tomo-LIF are compared with results from the SDT, confirming the analytical limitations of the pharmacopoeial disintegration test. Results from the 3D Tomo-LIF method proved a strong impact of fluid velocity on disintegration and dispersion. Generally, shorter DTs were determined when cross-linked sodium carboxymethly cellulose (NaCMCXL) was used as disintegrant compared to polyvinyl polypyrrolidone (PVPP). Tablets containing Kollidon VA64 were found to disintegrate by surface erosion. The novel method provides an in-depth understanding of the functional behaviour of the tablet material, composition and structural properties under in vivo-like hydrodynamic forces regarding disintegration and the temporal progress of dispersion. We consider the 3D Tomo-LIF in vitro method to be of improved biorelevance in terms of hydrodynamic conditions in the human stomach.

Viscous dissipation effect on steady natural convection Couette flow with convective boundary condition

The present article explores the effect of viscous dissipation on steady natural convection Couette flow subject to convective boundary condition. Due to the nonlinearity and coupling of the governing equations in the present situation, the homotopy perturbation method was employed to obtain the solutions of the energy and momentum equations. The impacts of the controlling parameters were investigated and discussed graphically. In the course of investigation, it was found that fluid temperature increases with an increase in viscous dissipation while the reverse trend was observed in fluid velocity. However, it was also discovered that heat generation leads to a decrease in the rate of heat transfer on the heated plate and it increases on the cold plate. Finally, it was concluded that the velocity boundary layer thickness increases with an increase in Biot number.

Induced magnetic field and viscous dissipation on flows of two immiscible fluids in a rectangular channel

The unsteady, magneto-hydrodynamic generalized Couette flows of two immiscible fluids in a rectangular channel with isothermal walls under the influence of an inclined magnetic field and an axial electric field have been investigated. Both fluids are considered electrically conducting and the solid boundaries are electrically insulated. Approximate analytical solutions for the velocity, induced magnetic, and temperature fields have been determined using the Laplace transform method along with the numerical Stehfest's algorithm for the inversion of the Laplace transforms. Also, for the nonlinear differential equation of energy, a numerical scheme based on the finite differences has been developed. A particular case has been numerically and graphically studied to show the evolution of the fluid velocity, induced magnetic field, and viscous dissipation in both flow regions.

Multilayer microfluidic platform for the study of luminal, transmural, and interstitial flow

Efficient delivery of oxygen and nutrients to tissues requires an intricate balance of blood, lymphatic, and interstitial fluid pressures, and gradients in fluid pressure drive the flow of blood, lymph, and interstitial fluid through tissues. While specific fluid mechanical stimuli, such as wall shear stress, have been shown to modulate cellular signaling pathways along with gene and protein expression patterns, an understanding of the key signals imparted by flowing fluid and how these signals are integrated across multiple cells and cell types in native tissues is incomplete due to limitations with current assays. Here, we introduce a multi-layer microfluidic platform (MLTI-Flow) that enables the culture of engineered blood and lymphatic microvessels and independent control of blood, lymphatic, and interstitial fluid pressures. Using optical microscopy methods to measure fluid velocity for applied input pressures, we demonstrate varying rates of interstitial fluid flow as a function of blood, lymphatic, and interstitial pressure, consistent with computational fluid dynamics models. The resulting microfluidic and computational platforms will provide for analysis of key fluid mechanical parameters and cellular mechanisms that contribute to diseases in which fluid imbalances play a role in progression, including lymphedema and solid cancer.

New Insights from Locally Resolved Hydrodynamics in Stirred Cell Culture Reactors

The link between hydrodynamics and biological process behavior of antibody-producing mammalian cell cultures is still not fully understood. Common methods to describe dependencies refer mostly to averaged hydrodynamic parameters obtained for individual cultivation systems. In this study, cellular effects and locally resolved hydrodynamics were investigated for impellers with different spatial hydrodynamics. Therefore, the hydrodynamics, mainly flow velocity, shear rate and power input, in a single- and a three-impeller bioreactor setup were analyzed by means of CFD simulations, and cultivation experiments with antibody-producing Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells were performed at various agitation rates in both reactor setups. Within the three-impeller bioreactor setup, cells could be cultivated successfully at much higher agitation rates as in the single-impeller bioreactor, probably due to a more uniform flow pattern. It could be shown that this different behavior cannot be linked to parameters commonly used to describe shear effects on cells such as the mean energy dissipation rate or the Kolmogorov length scale, even if this concept is extended by locally resolved hydrodynamic parameters. Alternatively, the hydrodynamic heterogeneity was statistically quantified by means of variance coefficients of the hydrodynamic parameters fluid velocity, shear rate, and energy dissipation rate. The calculated variance coefficients of all hydrodynamic parameters were higher in the setup with three impellers than in the single impeller setup, which might explain the rather stable process behavior in multiple impeller systems due to the reduced hydrodynamic heterogeneity. Such comprehensive insights lead to a deeper understanding of the bioprocess.

Stratified Flow of Micropolar Nanofluid over Riga Plate: Numerical Analysis

In this article, we present a numerical analysis of the energy and mass transport behavior of microrotational flow via Riga plate, considering suction or injection and mixed convection. The thermal stratified parameters of nanofluid are captured using an interpretation of the well-known Keller box model, which helps us to determine the characteristic properties of the physical parameters. The formulated boundary layer equations (nonlinear partial differential equations) are transformed into coupled ODEs with nonlinearities for the stratified controlled regimes. The impact of embedded flow and all physical quantities of practical interest, such as velocity, temperature, and concentration profile, are inspected and presented through tables and graphs. We found that the heat transfer on the surface decreases for the temperature stratification factor as mass transfer increases. Additionally, the fluid velocity increases as the modified Hartmann number increases.

EFFECT OF HEAT AND MASS TRANSFER AND THERMAL RADIATION ON A STEADY MHD CONVECTIVE FLOW WITH VISCOUS DISSIPATION AND SUCTION/INJECTION

Our motive is to examine the impact of thermal radiation and suction or injection with viscous dissipation on an MHD boundary layer flow past a vertical porous stretched sheet immersed in a porous medium. The set of the flow equations is converted into a set of non-linear ordinary differential equations by using similarity transformation. We use Runge Kutta method and shooting technique in MATLAB Package to solve the set of equations. The impact of non-dimensional physical parameters on flow profiles is analysed and depicted in graphs. We observe the influence of non-dimensional physical quantities on the Nusselt number, the Sherwood number, and skin friction and presented in tables. A comparison of the obtained numerical results with existing results in a limiting sense is also presented. We enhance radiation to observe the deceleration of fluid velocity and temperature profile for both suction and injection. While enhancing porosity parameter accelerates velocity whereas decelerates temperature profile. As the heat source parameter increases, the temperature of the fluid decreases for both suction and injection, it has been found. With the increasing values of the radiation parameter, the skin friction and heat transfer rate decreases. Increasing magnetic parameter decelerates the skin friction, Nusselt number, and Sherwood number.

Thermo-diffusion impacts on the flow of an elastico-viscous fluid over an inclined heated plane with magnetized wall

The focus is in this article is to scrutinize the simultaneous significances of magnetic diffusion, thermo-diffusion and angular location on the hydromagnetic flow of an elastico-viscous fluid over an inclined heated plane with magnetized wall. The flow medium is considered to be uniformly permeable (Darcy-Brinkman porous medium) and the flow of the fluid is considerably affected due to the appearance of a strong magnetic field in the direction normal to the flow surface. The significances of Hall current, induced magnetic field and Coriolis force on flow nature is also included in the study. The leading non-dimensionalized equations are explored by regular perturbation analysis. Ultimately, the expressions for velocity field, induced magnetic field, temperature and concentration are obtained. We further derived the surface skin friction, surface current density, heat and mass fluxes. The computation of results is performed with the aid of Mathematica software and results are presented in graphical and tabular forms for distinct flow impacting parameters. Numerical simulation explores that mass diffusion factor brings growth in the fluid velocity, temperature and normal induced magnetic field while it reduces the main induced magnetic field. Magnetic diffusion develops the primary flow and primary induced magnetic field and lessens the normal flow and normal induced magnetic field. Inclination angle of the heated plane upgrades primary induced magnetic field while downgrading normal induced magnetic field.

Electrokinetic energy conversion through cylindrical microannulus with periodic heterogeneous wall potentials

In microfluidic electrokinetic flows, heterogeneous wall potentials are often required to fulfill some functions, such as increasing dispersion and mixing efficiency. In this paper, we study the pressure-driven electrokinetic flow through microannulus with heterogeneous wall potentials in circumferential direction. The streaming potential induced by the ions accumulating in downstream of the microannulus is considered and the electrokinetic energy conversion efficiency is further investigated. Interestingly, based on the method of Fourier expansion, the analytical solutions of fluid velocity, streaming potential and energy conversion efficiency are derived for arbitrary peripheral distribution of the small wall potential for the first time. Four specific patterned modes of the heterogeneous wall potential, i.e., constant, step, sinusoid with period 2π and sinusoid with period π/2 are represented. The distributions of the electric potential and the velocity for four different modes are depicted graphically. Furthermore, the variations of the streaming potential and the electrokinetic energy conversion efficiency with related parameters are also discussed. Results show that when these integral values from -π to π associated with the wall potentials are identical, the streaming potential and the electrokinetic energy conversion efficiency corresponding to different modes are the same. Additionally, the amplitude of fluid velocity peripherally reduces with the increase of the wavenumber of wall potential distribution in θ-direction.

Inherent Irreversibility of Mixed Convection within Concentric Pipes in a Porous Medium with Thermal Radiation

This work investigated the thermal putrefaction and inherent irreversibility in a steady flow of an incompressible inconstant viscosity radiating fluid within two concentric pipes filled with a porous medium. Following the Brinkmann-Darcy-Forchheimer approach, the nonlinear differential equations governing the model were obtained. The model boundary value problem was addressed numerically via a shooting quadrature with the Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg integration scheme. The effects of diverse emerging parameters on the fluid velocity, temperature, skin friction, Nusselt number, entropy generation rate and the Bejan number are provided in graphs and discussed in this paper.