CFD Investigation into Influences of a Transversely and Periodically Deforming Microchannel on Shear Stress Behavior in a Gut-on-a-chip Device

. Organ-on-a-chip allows dynamic microenvironment of the actual organ to be simulated in vitro. In this study, the CFD simulation is used to investigate the behaviors of fluid flow and shear stress due to the effect of a transversely deforming membrane caused by the cyclic deformation of the microchannel sidewalls in a gut-on-a-chip device. The result reveals that the shear stress varies linearly along the length of the microchannel. The average shear stress per cycle is approximately three times greater than that of the stationary microchannel. The amplitude and frequency of the cyclic deformation also significantly affect the flow and shear stress behaviors. The highly dynamic shear stress in the gut-on-a-chip device could be one of the major factors that makes this kind of device more viable than the traditional static cell culture.