FSI Simulation of stereocilia inspired sensors

Duzijn, Yannick (2019) FSI Simulation of stereocilia inspired sensors. Integration Project, Industrial Engineering and Management.

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Abstract

This research is performed in order to produce new flow sensors that are widely applicable in different industries, varying from health care to underwater navigation. The research group of Dr. Kottapalli succeeded in creating a flow sensor, which achieves high sensitivity and accuracy. The Micro Electro Mechanic System (MEMS) flow sen- sor they created was inspired by the biological stereocilia found in the inner ear of mammals. The model is build from PDMS micro-pillars resembling the stereocilia. Suspended between the pillars are PVDF nanofibers for the tip-links. The sensitivity increases when tip-link stretch is better facilitated. For this study, improvements on the cur- rent model are studied with the goal of achieving higher sensitivity when designing the model to better mimic the biological version. To do so, four CAD models with increasingly accurate geometries to- wards nature, are created. In order to test the sensitivity, the total tip stretch is analyzed. Fluid structure interaction (FSI) analysis is performed on the four models using Comsol Multiphysics. The mod- els are subjected to a fluid flow increasing from 0,1 – 11 [mm/s] and the tip displacement is evaluated. From the simulations it could be concluded that increasing the model to better mimic the stereocilia, leads to an increased sensitivity.

Item Type:	Thesis (Integration Project)
Supervisor name:	Kottapalli, A.G.P. and Geertsema, A.A. and Sengupta, D.
Degree programme:	Industrial Engineering and Management
Thesis type:	Integration Project
Language:	English
Date Deposited:	06 Jul 2019
Last Modified:	05 Aug 2019 10:49
URI:	https://fse.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/19938

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