Numerical study of mixing performance in T-junction passive micromixer with twisted design

Abstract

In this study, numerical computations are performed with the main purpose of shedding light on the mixing characteristics in an innovative T-shaped micromixer equipped with a twisted structure. A 3-D model is presented and verified to mix two miscible fluids in a single phase. By considering different geometrical cases, the proposed T-mixer is compared using the standard T-mixer (Base case) running in the same operational conditions. Furthermore, the impacts of variation in the geometry of twisted design are scrutinized for Re (Reynolds number) in the extent of 1≤Re≤500 with the focus of obtaining a significant mixing quality for flow through the micromixer. MI (Mixing index), PI (performance index), and pressure drop are evaluated for micromixers with and without twisted patterns considering various values of Reynolds number. The numerical outcomes demonstrate that the MI (mixing performance) and PI (performance index) improve remarkably for T-shaped microchannel with twisted patterns, particularly Re`=200, due to the geometry of the curvature and the presence of secondary flow in the mixer. It is also found that case 6 yields the greatest improvement in mixing implementation by increasing the mixing index up to 142 percent.