Correlation between Spatial and Temporal Chaotic Behaviour in Two-Phase Microfluidics

Abstract

In this work spatial and temporal nonlinear dynamics in microfluidics two-phase phenomena are investigated. Numerical models of two phase air/water flows in serpentine mixer were implemented exploiting a commercial CFD solution for investigation of spatial fluid dynamics inside air bubbles in the two-phase flow. Experimentation in microfluidic channels was also performed, time series were extracted from recorded images of two-phase (air and water) flow in a microfluidic serpentine mixer and nonlinear analysis methods were applied for time series characterization. Relationships between spatial parameters related to the direction of simulated fluid trajectories inside the air bubble and the largest Lyapunov exponents related to the bubbles’ temporal dynamics in experimentation were explored to characterize spatio-temporal patterns in microfluidics.