Arrangement and feedback effects of droplet swarms in a parallel microchannel device

Abstract

Droplet swarms are the dominant form of highly dispersed microdroplets in cavities. During the self-assembly of droplet swarms, the continuous phase is inclined to flow along the path of the minimum resistance, while the arrangement of the droplet swarms seeks to minimize the potential energy, and the two mechanisms compromise in competition. In this paper, the ability of droplet swarms to timely adjust the morphology is measured by the ratio of the average flow rate of the two-phase flow to that of the droplet swarms, thereby clarifying the dominant mechanism of the arrangement of droplet swarms. The arrangement of droplet swarms dominated by different mechanisms and their distribution are introduced, and the prediction method for the arrangement of droplet swarms is proposed. The mechanism underlying the breakup of the microdroplets in the cavity is elucidated, and three modes of the breakup in the cavity are introduced. Furthermore, a resistance model for the microdevice is established to quantify the fluctuations of pressure difference and flow rate resulting from the formation of droplet swarms. The feedback effects of droplet swarms on the uniformity of droplet formation and flow patterns are analyzed, revealing the ideal flow range for the formation of highly dispersed droplets in microchannels. This paper elucidates the arrangement and the feedback effects of droplet swarms, which will guide the application of microdevices in reaction and mass transfer processes.