Dynamics of droplet breakup in a T-junction

Hoang, Duong A.; Portela, L.M.; Kleijn, Chris R.; Kreutzer, Michiel T.; Steijn, Volkert van

doi:10.1017/jfm.2013.18

Cited by 134 publications

(89 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…However, as suggested by two-dimensional numerical simulations [22] and shown by this work, they are able to describe the flow of biphasic flows with reasonable accuracy in many situations. We believe that this kind of models can be of valuable use in the description of droplet microfluidics when confinement is important.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

Effect of confinement on the deformation of microfluidic drops

Ulloa

Ahumada²,

Cordero

2014

Phys. Rev. E

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We study the deformation of drops squeezed between the floor and ceiling of a microchannel and subjected to a hyperbolic flow. We observe that the maximum deformation of drops depends on both the drop size and the rate of strain of the external flow and can be described with power laws with exponents 2.59 ± 0.28 and 0.91 ± 0.05 respectively. We develop a theoretical model to describe the deformation of squeezed drops based on the Darcy approximation for shallow geometries and the use of complex potentials. The model describes the steady-state deformation of the drops as a function of a non-dimensional parameter Ca δ 2 , where Ca is the capillary number (proportional to the strain rate and the drop size) and δ is a confinement parameter equal to the drop size divided by the channel height. For small deformations, the theoretical model predicts a linear relationship between the deformation of drops and this parameter, in good agreement with the experimental observations.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

Effect of confinement on the deformation of microfluidic drops

Ulloa

Ahumada²,

Cordero

2014

Phys. Rev. E

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“…Numerical simulations which provide a complete description of the flow field can shed light on the present problem. It has been shown that numerical approximations of the Navier-Stokes equations can represent flow physics in many microfluidics applications, such as droplets/bubbles migration and the breakup of droplets at T-junctions [19][20][21][22] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Droplet migration in a Hele–Shaw cell: Effect of the lubrication film on the droplet dynamics

et al. 2016

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Droplet migration in a Hele-Shaw cell is a fundamental multiphase flow problem which is crucial for many microfluidics applications. We focus on the regime at low capillary number and three-dimensional direct numerical simulations are performed to investigate the problem. In order to reduce the computational cost, an adaptive mesh is employed and high mesh resolution is only used near the interface. Parametric studies are performed on the droplet horizontal radius and the capillary number.For droplets with an horizontal radius larger than half the channel height the droplet overfills the channel and exhibits a pancake shape. A lubrication film is formed between the droplet and the wall and particular attention is paid to the effect of the lubrication film on the droplet velocity. The computed velocity of the pancake droplet is shown to be lower than the average inflow velocity, which is in agreement with experimental measurements. The numerical results show that both the strong shear induced by the lubrication film and the three-dimensional flow structure contribute to the low mobility of the droplet. In this low-migration-velocity scenario the interfacial flow in the droplet reference frame moves toward the rear on the top and reverses direction moving to the front from the two side edges. The velocity of the pancake droplet and the thickness of the lubrication film are observed to decrease with capillary number. The droplet velocity and its dependence on capillary number cannot be captured by the classic Hele-Shaw equations, since the depth-averaged approximation neglects the effect of the lubrication film.

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“…Additionally, the effect of different gas and liquid distributors to find the controlled generation of the bubble and droplet formation of different flow regimes was investigated. Hoang et al (2013) investigated the droplet breakup dynamic with creeping motion through the T-shape microchannels using the VOF simulation method in OpenFOAM. Numerical validations of microfluidic flow simulation were examined.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of Different Droplet Formation Regimes in a T-junction Microchannel Using the VOF Technique in OpenFOAM

Malekzadeh

Roohi

2015

Microgravity Sci. Technol.

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Here we aimed to investigate various droplet formation regimes in a two-dimensional T-junction microchannel geometry using the open source software OpenFOAM. Two incompressible fluids, continuous phase in the main channel and dispersed phase in the lateral channel, have been considered. The interFoam solver was used to simulate laminar flow with two incompressible and isothermal phases. We evaluated the capability of "Compressive Interface Capturing Scheme for Arbitrary Meshes (CICSAM)" volume of fluid (VOF) technique of the OpenFOAM for modeling of the droplet formation and movement in different regimes. The flow behavior in the T-junction microchannel over a wide range of capillary numbers (0.006 to 0.12), volume flow rate ratio (0.125, 0.25, 0.5), and contact angle (130 • to 180 • ) in the squeezing, dripping and jetting regimes were examined.The importance of parameters such as contact angle, capillary number, flow rate ratio, and Reynolds number at the time of separation, as well as the formation of droplets, was investigated in different regimes. We found that droplet detachment time increases by increasing the contact angle in the squeezing regime while increasing the contact angle in the dripping regime results in a decrease in the droplet detachment time. We compare the

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Dynamics of droplet breakup in a T-junction

Cited by 134 publications

References 19 publications

Effect of confinement on the deformation of microfluidic drops

Effect of confinement on the deformation of microfluidic drops

Droplet migration in a Hele–Shaw cell: Effect of the lubrication film on the droplet dynamics

Investigation of Different Droplet Formation Regimes in a T-junction Microchannel Using the VOF Technique in OpenFOAM

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