Chapter 3 - Computational transport processes for micromixers

Abstract

This chapter discusses the fundamentals of the different numerical schemes for modeling the transport phenomena in micromixers. Of particular interest in this chapter is the prediction of transport processes in micromixers. These processes involve the transport of physically and/or chemically distinct species. These processes can be affected by the flow, temperature, and electric and magnetic fields. These physical fields are often interrelated. As a result, the mixing process is governed by a system of strongly coupled partial differential equations (PDEs). These PDEs can be highly nonlinear. The geometries of the domain, in which the solutions are sought for this system of PDEs are mostly irregular, in the sense that the boundary of the domain cannot be conveniently represented using an ordinary or even general curvilinear coordinate system. Attempting an analytical solution for this system of PDEs in irregular domains is mathematically very demanding. It is, therefore, not surprising that there are only a limited number of analytical solutions available, often at the cost of having assumptions that oversimplify the systems of PDEs. For such types of problems, a numerical solution is one of the most viable options leading to the subject of this chapter. Finally, the chapter concludes with a few remarks on the presented computational framework.