Flow properties in a standard polypropylene microtube during a convectional PCR

Abstract

This paper studies the hydrodynamic flow in a standard 0.2 ml polypropylene microtube during a polymerase chain reaction by evaluating its discrete numerical representation. The finite volume grid of the microtube is constructed using OpenFOAM toolbox. The dynamics of the flow satisfy the Boussinesq approximation. The feature analysis employs the change of the inclination relative to the neutral position, the interval of which is, for the most part, coarsely divided into segments, significantly refined for the regions of the flow singularity. The flow properties change drastically upon the formation of a double vortex at around 14° as it causes significant reduction of the average flow velocity. In contrast, at substantial inclination angles in both positive and negative directions, the flow velocity reaches its maximum.