Macro-micro modeling design in system-level and experiment for a micromixer

Abstract

A novel macro-micro modeling method has been presented for designing three-dimensional microfluidic devices in system-level. The macro model was used to solve mass transfer in simple modules of a microfluidic device, such as straight channels. The micro model was used to solve mass transfer in complicated modules of a microfluidic device, such as mixing channels. Then, the mass transfer in a microfluidic device was solved in system-level. The macro-micro modeling method was applied to a micromixer, and the concentration distribution in the micromixer can be evaluated. Compared with numerical simulation, the maximum relative deviation between macro-micro calculation and numerical simulation, results are 1.28% and the computational efficiency of macro-micro model was improved significantly with the numbers of straight channels increasing. The macro-micro modeling method is proven to be an effective way for rapid design of microfluidic devices in system-level.