Effect of geometry on droplet formation in the squeezing regime in a microfluidic T-junction

    Authors

    A. Gupta;R. Kumar

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Microfluid. Nanofluid.

    Keywords

    Microfluidics; Capillary number; Lattice Boltzmann; Multiphase flow; LATTICE BOLTZMANN SIMULATION; MICROCHANNELS; DYNAMICS; FLUIDS; BREAK; FLOWS; MODEL; Nanoscience & Nanotechnology; Instruments & Instrumentation; Physics, ; Fluids & Plasmas

    Abstract

    In the surface tension-dominated microchannel T-junction, droplets can be formed as a result of the mixing of two dissimilar, immiscible fluids. This article presents results for very low Capillary numbers and different flow rates of the continuous and dispersed phases. Through three-dimensional lattice Boltzmann-based simulations, the mechanism of the formation of "plugs'' in the squeezing regime has been examined and the size of the droplets quantified. Results for Re(c) < < 1 show the dependence of flow rates of the two fluids on the length of the droplets formed, which is compared with existing experimental data. It is shown that the size of plugs formed decreases as the Capillary number increases in the squeezing regime. This article clearly shows that the geometry effect, i.e., the widths of the two channels and the depth of the assembly, plays an important role in the determination of the length of the plugs, a fact that was ignored in earlier experimental correlations.

    Journal Title

    Microfluidics and Nanofluidics

    Volume

    8

    Issue/Number

    6

    Publication Date

    1-1-2010

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    799

    Last Page

    812

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000277298900008

    ISSN

    1613-4982

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