Abstract
Emulsions consist of small liquid droplets immersed in another liquid, typically either a mix of oil in water or water in oil. Emulsions have wide applications in the production of pharmaceutical products, food and cosmetics. The properties and quality of an emulsion typically depend on the size and the distribution of the droplets. Thus, the objective of this study was to investigate in detail the formation and behaviour of droplets in a T-junction microchannel. By setting up a model and applying a laminar two-phase flow in ANSYS© simulation, the particle droplets distribution was observed. The model used the predefined wetted wall boundary condition at the solid walls, with a contact angle of 135°. In this study, the behaviour and flow pattern of the particles along the T-junction microchannel were observed with regard to the effect of the initial particle concentration, the flow rate of the particles, and the initial velocity feed through the inlets of the microchannel. From the results, the effects of the velocity, mixing time and flow rate of the particles on the particle distribution and mixing were studied. It was shown that the optimization process was achieved at a flow rate of 0.025 mL/s, with the mixing process occurring within 1.6 seconds and the velocity feed at the two inlets being VA = 0.02 m/s and VB = 0.04 m/s, where the particles experienced less lift shear and compressive forces near the outlet, which caused the mixing process to become efficient.
Highlights
Numerous studies have been done to determine the particle’s behavior, motion and flow pattern in a pipeline or small channel
The mean time for particle to move towards the center of inlet A and B was observed to determine the minimum time needed, tmin for the particle from two inlets to mix at the T-junction microchannel
The point of the particle mixing is positioned at the symmetry of the Tjunction microchannel through the outlet C
Summary
Numerous studies have been done to determine the particle’s behavior, motion and flow pattern in a pipeline or small channel. As the temperature of the particle’s environment reaches a very low level, the particles will move in the form of fixed vibration condition It is because the particles motion in the liquid phase does not have consistent movement, the resulting movement is random (Xu 1997). Suspended particles tend to migrate in a pressure-driven flow at the finite-inertia conditions; that called tubular a pinch phenomenon. It was known as a successfully described by a theory for a point particle limit in the channel and tube geometries (Segre et al 1962 and Dong et al 2004).
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