Microfluidic Bubble Experiment

As her award-winning senior thesis, Anuja Magdum ('26) designed and built a testbed that miniaturizes a microfluidic bubble experiment for potential “launch" on a microgravity platform.  In a 1g environment, methods for separating and sorting bubbles often involve exploiting simple buoyancy. Bubble separation and degassing in a space environment (like on a space station) can be more complicated, however, often utilizing centrifugal or membrane-based methods (contingent on inertial or capillary forces).  

Another bubble separation/degassing approach that shows promise is carefully controlling the flow of bubbles through curved microchannels.  Anuja's testbed allows for the rapid, automated, turnkey test and microscopic observation of controlled flows through a wide variety of candidate microchannel geometries, all in the span of a single rapid test campaign on a microgravity platform.  The experiment was designed to be compatible for “launch” on any of several popular parabolic aircraft microgravity platforms or, alternatively, even in a drop-tower facility.