Inertial hydrodynamic ratchet: Rectification of colloidal flow in tubes of variable diameter

We investigate analytically a microfluidic device consisting of a tube with a nonuniform but spatially periodic diameter, where a fluid driven back and forth by a pump carries colloidal particles. Although the net flow of the fluid is zero, the particles move preferentially in one direction due to the ratchet mechanism, which occurs due to the simultaneous effect of inertial hydrodynamics and Brownian motion. We show that the average current is strongly sensitive to particle size, thus facilitating colloidal particle sorting.