Influence of geometric parameters on the fluidic and mixing characteristics of T-shaped micromixer

Abstract

To understand the fluidic and mixing performances of passive micromixer, this paper numerically studies the influences of microchannel cross-sectional dimensions on the pressure drop and local mixing efficiency of T-shaped micromixer with three different cross-sectional shapes of rectangle, ellipse and isosceles triangle. Furthermore, a new dimensionless parameter is introduced to characterize the comprehensive fluidic and mixing performances of the main mixing channel and the whole T-shaped micromixer. It is found that both the fluidic and mixing performances of the T-shaped micromixer are sensitive to the cross-sectional dimensions of the microchannel. Among all the T-shaped micromixers with different microchannel cross-sectional shapes and different microchannel cross-sectional dimensions studied in this paper, the micromixer with elliptical-shaped microchannel having the dual axis length ratio of 0.5 is the optimal structure with the best comprehensive fluidic and mixing performances. The findings in present work are important for the design of the micromixer with desirable fluidic and mixing performances.