Laminar Flow In Microchannels Research Articles

Mixing Performance Analysis and Optimal Design of a Novel Passive Baffle Micromixer.

Micromixers, as crucial components of microfluidic devices, find widespread applications in the field of biochemistry. Due to the laminar flow in microchannels, mixing is challenging, and it significantly impacts the efficiency of rapid reactions. In this study, numerical simulations of four baffle micromixer structures were carried out at different Reynolds numbers (Re = 0.1, Re = 1, Re = 10, and Re = 100) in order to investigate the flow characteristics and mixing mechanism under different structures and optimize the micromixer by varying the vertical displacement of the baffle, the rotation angle, the horizontal spacing, and the number of baffle, and by taking into account the mixing intensity and pressure drop. The results indicated that the optimal mixing efficiency was achieved when the baffle's vertical displacement was 90 μm, the baffle angle was 60°, the horizontal spacing was 130 μm, and there were 20 sets of baffles. At Re = 0.1, the mixing efficiency reached 99.4%, and, as Re increased, the mixing efficiency showed a trend of, first, decreasing and then increasing. At Re = 100, the mixing efficiency was 97.2%. Through simulation analysis of the mixing process, the structure of the baffle-type micromixer was effectively improved, contributing to enhanced fluid mixing efficiency and reaction speed.

Principle and application of bubble-based oscillation for fast mixing on microfluidic chip

Mixing in microfluidic devices presents a challenge because of the laminar flow in microchannels. Here, we present an oscillatory-flow-based microfluidic mixer (OFBMM) in which fluids are subjected to a back-and-forth motion by utilizing a periodically changed pressure and an on-chip gas bubble. We developed a low-cost Arduino-based pneumatic system to apply pressure and an OpenCV-based image-processing algorithm to quantitatively analyze the mixing effect. We found that the oscillatory motion of fluids is similar to the charging and discharging process of an RC circuit used in electronics. We investigated the mixing effect by varying the oscillation frequencies, initial bubble volumes, and applied pressures. The results indicated that the increase in both the applied pressure and the initial volume of the gas bubble could promote fluid mixing. A large-scale serial dilution microfluidic chip based on OFBMM was also developed to demonstrate its biochemical potential. We believe that OFBMM will provide a new choice for mixing two or more solutions in a valves-integrated microfluidic system.

Heat transfer increase by convection in liquid-infused surfaces for laminar and turbulent flows

Liquid-infused surfaces can reduce friction drag in both laminar and turbulent flows. However, the heat transfer properties of such multi-phase surfaces have still not been investigated to a large extent. We use numerical simulations to study conjugate heat transfer of liquid-filled grooves. It is shown that heat transfer can increase for both laminar and turbulent liquid flows due to recirculation in the surface texture. Laminar flow simulations show that for the increase to be substantial, the thermal conductivity of the solid must be similar to the thermal conductivity of the fluids, and the recirculation in the grooves must be sufficiently strong (Péclet number larger than 1). The ratio of the surface cavity to the system height is an upper limit of the direct contribution from the recirculation. While this ratio can be significant for laminar flows in microchannels, it is limited for turbulent flows, where the system scale (e.g. channel height) usually is much larger than the texture height. However, heat transfer enhancement of the order of$10\,\%$is observed (with a net drag reduction) in a turbulent channel flow at a friction Reynolds number${{Re}}_\tau \approx 180$. It is shown that the turbulent convection in the bulk can be enhanced indirectly from the recirculation in the grooves.

Hydrodynamic drag reduction of shear-thinning liquids in superhydrophobic textured microchannels

Super-hydrophobic textured surfaces reduce hydrodynamic drag in pressure-driven laminar flows in micro-channels. However, despite the wide usage of non-Newtonian liquids in microfluidic devices, the flow behaviour of such liquids was rarely examined so far in the context of friction reduction in textured super-hydrophobic micro-channels. Thus, we have investigated the influence of topologically different rough surfaces on friction reduction of shear-thinning liquids in micro-channels. First, the friction factor ratio (a ratio of friction factor on a textured surface to a plain surface) on generic surface textures, such as posts, holes, longitudinal and transverse ribs, was estimated numerically over a range of Carreau number as a function of microchannel constriction ratio, gas fraction and power-law exponent. Resembling the flow behaviour of Newtonian liquids, the longitudinal ribs and posts have exhibited significantly less flow friction than the transverse ribs and holes while the friction factor ratios of all textures has exhibited non-monotonic variation with the Carreau number. While the minima of the friction factor ratio were noticed at a constant Carreau number irrespective of the microchannel constriction ratio, the minima have shifted to a higher Carreau number with an increase in the power-law index and gas fraction. Experiments were also conducted with aqueous Xanthan Gum liquids in micro-channels. The flow enhancement (the flow rate with super-hydrophobic textures with respect to a smooth surface) exhibited a non-monotonic behaviour and attenuated with an increase in power-law index tantamount to simulations. The results will serve as a guide to design frictionless micro-channels when employing non-Newtonian liquids.

Hydrodynamic Entrance Length for Laminar Flow in Microchannels with Rectangular Cross Section

This work presents a detailed numerical investigation on the required development length (L=L/B) in laminar Newtonian fluid flow in microchannels with rectangular cross section and different aspect ratios (AR). The advent of new microfluidic technologies shifted the practical Reynolds numbers (Re) to the range of unitary (and even lower) orders of magnitude, i.e., creeping flow conditions. Therefore, accurate estimations of L at Re≤O(1) are important for microsystem design. At such low Reynolds numbers, in which inertial forces are less dominant than viscous forces, flow characteristics become necessarily different from those at the macroscale where Re is typically much larger. A judicious choice of mesh refinement and adequate numerical methods allowed obtaining accurate results and a general correlation for estimating L, valid in the ranges 0≤Re≤2000 and 0.1≤AR≤1, thus covering applications in both macro and microfluidics.

Enhanced flow boiling in microchannels by incorporating multiple micro-nozzles and micro-pinfin fences

Phase-change heat transfer is a promising approach for high-power electronics cooling. However, the chaotic two-phase transport and dominant laminar flow in microchannels inhibits flow boiling performance. Thus, the ability to coordinate the two-phase transport in a highly favorable fashion would be highly desired. In this study, a new microchannel configuration by incorporating capillary micro-pinfin fences and multiple micro-nozzles has been proposed to sustain thin liquid film evaporation, promote mixing and global liquid supply simultaneously. A new boundary layer covered with thin liquid film is activated by the capillary micro-pinfin fences along the sidewalls of the channel. Additionally, the sustainable thin liquid film is maintained using capillary effect, which can promote the capillary-driven flow inside the gap between micro-pinfin fences and the sidewalls. As a result, significantly enhanced flow boiling has been achieved on both DI-water and HFE-7100. A critical heat flux (CHF) up to 944 W/cm2 has been demonstrated using DI-water at a mass velocity of 600 kg/m2 s, accounting for a 43% enhancement compared to the configuration of multiple micro-nozzles without capillary micro-pinfin fences. Compared to the base configuration of plain wall microchannels, the enhancement of CHF is over threefold at a mass velocity of 389 kg/m2s. Equally important, this new microchannel configuration works well on dielectric fluids, which is challenging to promote CHF due to their unfavorable thermophysical properties. A CHF of 287 W/cm2 with a noticeable enhancement of 56% has been achieved at a mass velocity of 2772 kg/m2 s on HFE-7100 at room temperature. Moreover, the enhancements of heat transfer coefficient (HTC) on HFE-7100 are more noticeable compared to that of DI-water. For example, 120% higher HTC at a moderate mass velocity of 693 kg/m2 s has been realized. All the enhancements are achieved without the escalating pressure drop.

A new method for heat transfer coefficient measurements of single-phase fluids during laminar flow in microchannels

The measurement of heat transfer coefficients in microchannels is complicated due to the small sizes involved. Moreover, a heat transfer mechanism which is not usually considered, the axial conduction effect in the channel wall, must also be evaluated in micro-scale measurements. Previous heat transfer coefficient measurements have not accounted for the axial conduction effect, and those measurements showed the inconsistent result with the theory. In this paper, a new measurement method is developed to validate the theory that predicts a Nusselt number independent of Reynolds number in the laminar flow regime for microchannels. A numerical model is used to simulate heat transfer characteristics in a microchannel with wall conduction, and to predict the wall temperature difference between a location at the end of the heater and a location 3 mm away from the heater on the microchannel. The temperature difference is experimentally measured on a 160 μm hydraulic diameter microchannel and compared with the numerical model. The comparison shows that the Nusselt number in the laminar flow regime for the microchannel is independent of Reynolds number at least down to Re=300.

Analytical and Numerical Investigations of Friction Number for Laminar Flow in Microchannels

Analytical and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analyses confirmed the presence of apparent slip for water flow in microchannels with equivalent hydraulic diameter, Dh < 103μm, markedly decreasing the friction number, fRein. The determined values of the slip length, β, from reported measurements of pressure losses in microchannels with aspect ratio, α = 1, 1.74, 2, and 40, are 0.9, 3.5, 1.6, and 0.125 μm, respectively. For Dh > 103μm, the apparent slip in microchannels diminishes, and the friction number approaches the theoretical Hagen–Poiseuille with no slip. The analytical solution for fully developed flow successfully benchmarked the CFD approach, which is subsequently used to investigate fRein and the flow development length, Le, for uniform inlet velocity in microchannels. For fully developed flow, the analytical and CFD values of fRein are in excellent agreement. For microchannels with Dh < 103μm, fRein decreases below that of the theoretical Hagen–Poiseuille with no slip, almost exponentially with decreased Dh. The difference increases with decreased Dh, but increased α and β. The friction number for uniform inlet velocity is identical to that for fully developed flow when Dh ≤ 100 μm, but is as much as 9% higher for larger Dh. For uniform inlet velocity, Le negligibly depends on α and β, but increases with increased Rein. The obtained values are correlated as: Le/Dh = 0.068 Rein.

Effects of different roughness elements on friction and pressure drop of laminar flow in microchannels

PurposeAccording to very small dimensions of the microchannels, producing a microchannel with smooth surfaces is approximately impossible. The surface roughness can have a specific effect on microchannel performances. This paper aims to investigate the changes in friction and pressure drop in the microchannels by considering the different roughness elements on microchannel wall and changes in elementary geometry and flow conditions. Results show a significant effect of roughness on the pressure drop and friction.Design/methodology/approachTwo-dimensional fluid flow in the rough microchannels is analyzed using FLUENT. Microchannels have a height of 50 µm. Water at room temperature (25°C) has been used as working fluid. The Reynolds numbers are considered in laminar flow range and from 50 to 300.FindingsThe results show that the value of friction factor reduces nonlinearly with an increase in Reynolds number. But, the pressure drops and the Poiseuille number in the microchannels increase with an increase in Reynolds number. The values of the pressure drop and the friction factor increase by increasing the height and size of the roughness elements, but these values reduce with an increase in the distance of roughness elements.Originality/valueThe roughness elements types in this research are rectangular, trapezoidal, elliptical, triangular and complex (composed of multiple types of roughness elements). The effects of the Reynolds number, roughness height, roughness distance and roughness size on the pressure drop and friction in the rough microchannels are investigated and discussed. Furthermore, differences between the effects of five types of roughness elements are identified.

Tailoring bismuth oxide flower-, bowtie- and brushwood-like structures through microfluidic synthesis

Bismuth oxide structures resembling flowers, bowties and brushwood-like assemblies were successfully produced utilizing microfluidic synthesis approach. The molecular length of surfactant polyethylene glycol (PEG) was critical in shaping the particle morphology, while the laminar flow in micro-channels assured the complete structures without breakage. The PEG with 200 Molecular Weight (MW) assists to produce 1–2 μm flower-like structures, while the PEG with 8000 MW yields to the highly crystalline bowtie and brushwood-like structures with up to 60 μm size. The particle morphology examination along microfluidic network coupled with fluid dynamics calculations showed that the complex structures are completed at the end of micro-channel tubes, at the residence time less than 13 s. The as-received bismuth oxide particles were tested for oxidizing activity in nano-energetic material Al-Bi2O3. The formulation containing flower-shaped structures was superior to brushwood-like oxidizer, and produced the maximum pressure discharge value of about 4.9 kPa m3 g−1, which is comparable to highest reported values in literature.

A high-efficiency micromixing effect by pulsed AC electrothermal flow

PurposeThe on-chip high-throughput mixing process is one of the main challenges in the preparation process in clinical diagnostics. Because of high laminar flow in micro-channel, the fluid should be disturbed by external force. This paper aims to study pulsed AC electrothermal flow and the multiphysic interaction between the fluid behavior, external electric field, temperature field and convection-diffusion field to generate perturbation effect inside the channel.Design/methodology/approachA set of numerical simulations were carried out by multiphysic interactions between the fluid behavior, external electric field, temperature field and convection-diffusion field to generate the pulsed AC electrothermal flow inside the channel. Behavior of electrode–electrolyte system is discussed using the electrical lumped circuit model.FindingsHighly efficient temperature gradients are generated by applying pulsed electric potential over the electrodes; as a result, efficient secondary flows form inside the channel. The proposed method increases the interfacial contact area between the fluids and enhances the molecular diffusion transport phenomena. Maximum temperature rise of 4.1 K is observed in the gap between the electrodes for 0.08 S/m fluid medium, where the electric field is much stronger than elsewhere. Velocity field and concentration analysis reveal high performance perturbation effects for the mixing process. The periodic stretching and folding effects increase the interfacial contact area between the fluids by using pulsed AC electrothermal flow. Based on the results, 83 per cent mixing efficiency is achieved for 0.08 S/m fluid medium with a microchannel length of 400 µm. Both the mixing efficiency and generated temperature rise increase by increasing the fluid ionic strength.Originality/valueThe ability to generate low temperature rise is very important for AC electrothermally driven fluidic chips such as immunoassay chips. In the present research, a novel actuation mechanism has been proposed to generate AC electrothermal manipulation mechanism and enhance the mixing efficiency by using pulsed AC electrothermal flow.

Microfluidic preparation of anchored cell membrane sheets for in vitro analyses and manipulation of the cytoplasmic face

Molecular networks on the cytoplasmic faces of cellular plasma membranes are critical research topics in biological sciences and medicinal chemistry. However, the selective permeability of the cell membrane restricts the researchers from accessing to the intact intracellular factors on the membrane from the outside. Here, a microfluidic method to prepare cell membrane sheets was developed as a promising tool for direct examination of the cytoplasmic faces of cell membranes. Mammalian cells immobilized on a poly(ethylene glycol)-lipid coated substrate were rapidly and efficiently fractured, with the sheer stress of laminar flow in microchannels, resulting in isolation of the bottom cell membrane sheets with exposed intact cytoplasmic faces. On these faces of the cell membrane sheets, both ligand-induced phosphorylation of receptor tyrosine kinases and selective enzymatic modification of a G-protein coupling receptor were directly observed. Thus, the present cell membrane sheet should serve as a unique platform for studies providing new insights into juxta-membrane molecular networks and drug discovery.

Convex Grooves in Staggered Herringbone Mixer Improve Mixing Efficiency of Laminar Flow in Microchannel.

The liquid streams in a microchannel are hardly mixed to form laminar flow, and the mixing issue is well described by a low Reynolds number scheme. The staggered herringbone mixer (SHM) using repeated patterns of grooves in the microchannel have been proved to be an efficient passive micro-mixer. However, only a negative pattern of the staggered herringbone mixer has been used so far after it was first suggested, to the best of our knowledge. In this study, the mixing efficiencies from negative and positive staggered herringbone mixer patterns as well as from opposite flow directions were tested to investigate the effect of the micro-structure geometry on the surrounding laminar flow. The positive herringbone pattern showed better mixing efficiency than the conventionally used negative pattern. Also, generally used forward flow gives better mixing efficiency than reverse flow. The mixing was completed after two cycles of staggered herringbone mixer with both forward and reverse flow in a positive pattern. The traditional negative pattern showed complete mixing after four and five cycles in forward and reverse flow direction, respectively. The mixing effect in all geometries was numerically simulated, and the results confirmed more efficient mixing in the positive pattern than the negative. The results can further enable the design of a more efficient microfluidic mixer, as well as in depth understanding of the phenomena of positive and negative patterns existing in nature with regards to the surrounding fluids.

Heat Transfer and Entropy Generation of Non-Newtonian Laminar Flow in Microchannels with Four Flow Control Structures

Flow characteristics and heat transfer performances of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) aqueous solutions in the microchannels with flow control structures were investigated in this study. The researches were carried out with various flow rates and concentrations of the CMC aqueous solutions. The results reveal that the pin-finned microchannel has the most uniform temperature distribution on the structured walls, and the average temperature on the structured wall reaches the minimum value in cylinder-ribbed microchannels at the same flow rate and CMC concentration. Moreover, the protruded microchannel obtains the minimum relative Fanning friction factor f/f0, while, the maximum f/f0 is observed in the cylinder-ribbed microchannel. Furthermore, the minimum f/f0 is reached at the cases with CMC2000, and also, the relative Nusselt number Nu/Nu0 of CMC2000 cases is larger than that of other cases in the four structured microchannels. Therefore, 2000 ppm is the recommended concentration of CMC aqueous solutions in all the cases with different flow rates and flow control structures. Pin-finned microchannels are preferred in low flow rate cases, while, V-grooved microchannels have the minimum relative entropy generation S’/S0’ and best thermal performance TP at CMC2000 in high flow rates.

Influence of Tortuous Geometry on the Hydrodynamic Characteristics of Laminar Flow in Microchannels

AbstractFlow visualizations are performed to study the hydrodynamic characteristics of laminar flow in tortuous microchannels for a wide range of Reynolds numbers. The detailed flow patterns in wavy channels are identified and found to be greatly affected by geometrical parameters. In wavy channels, steady flow exists at low Reynolds numbers, but above a critical number unsteady flow develops. The critical Reynolds number is found to depend on the characteristics of the channel path. Recirculation zones form immediately after the inner corners of the sharp bends, with their size and magnitude of the recirculation velocity increasing with higher Reynolds numbers. Large fluctuations in recirculation zone locations highlight the importance of these flow features in the development of transient flow. The flow behaviors play very important roles in determining the pressure drop in wavy channels relative to straight channels.

Separation of suspensions and emulsions via ultrasonic standing waves – A review

Ultrasonic standing waves (USW) separation is an established technology for micro scale applications due to the excellent control to manipulate particles acoustically achieved when combining high frequency ultrasound with laminar flow in microchannels, allowing the development of numerous applications. Larger scale systems (pilot to industrial) are emerging; however, scaling up such processes are technologically very challenging. This paper reviews the physical principles that govern acoustic particle/droplet separation and the mathematical modeling techniques developed to understand, predict, and design acoustic separation processes. A further focus in this review is on acoustic streaming, which represents one of the major challenges in scaling up USW separation processes. The manuscript concludes by providing a brief overview of the state of the art of the technology applied in large scale systems with potential applications in the dairy and oil industries.

Diffusion based kinetic selectivity modulation of enzymatic proteolysis in a microfluidic reactor: experimental analysis and stochastic modeling

Microreactors enable new experimental ways for enzyme engineering. In this context, we show that the liquid–liquid parallel laminar flows in microchannels cause a kinetic selectivity modification of proteolytic enzymatic reaction involving hemoglobin and pepsin, reaction that generates numerous bioactive peptides at different advancement state. Here we show that this diffusion based kinetic modulation induces an altered peptides appearance kinetics for a part of the initial substrate population. Indeed, microfluidic and conventional batch experiments performed in the same reaction conditions lead to strong differences in the resulting peptidic profiles obtained by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. Such differences are explained by the laminar flow diffusive conditions inside microchannels and are supported by a stochastic algorithm based on the Michaelis–Menten equation. Several bioactive peptides are identified by mass spectrometry and show the potential of such methodology in peptides screening from a complex proteolysis but also for selective peptides preparation by microfluidics.

Numerical realization of viscous-thermogravity regimes in microchannels and under the microgravity conditions at near-critical liquid properties

Numerical investigation is performed of 3D laminar flow in tubes at supercritical liquid pressures within the near-critical parameter ranges with account for the buoyancy forces. Water is taken as the working medium. Thermophysical properties are presented in the form of interpolation dependencies. Data are obtained on the influence of strongly variable physical properties on the laminar flow in microchannels and under microgravity conditions. Peculiarities are analyzed of the single-phase liquid flows in the vertical and horizontal tubes at the near-critical parameters as compared to the data for constant physical properties.

Characterization of Surface Roughness Effects on Laminar Flow in Microchannels by Using Fractal Cantor Structures

The fractal characterization of surface topography by using Cantor set structures is introduced to quantify the microchannel surface. Based on this fractal characterization of surface, a model of laminar flow in rough microchannels is developed and numerically analyzed in this paper. The effects of Reynolds number, relative roughness, and fractal dimension on laminar flow are all discussed. The results indicate that the presence of roughness leads to the form of detachment, and the eddy generation is observed at the shadow of the roughness elements. The pressure drop in the rough microchannels along the flow direction is larger than that in the smooth channel. It is no longer in a linear fashion and the fluctuation in pressure drop along the stream due to the vortex near the wall is found. Differing from the smooth channel, the Poiseuille number for laminar flow in rough microchannels is no longer only dependent on the cross-sectional shape of the channel, but also strongly influenced by the Reynolds number, roughness height, and fractal dimension (spectrum) of the surface.

Nitrogen stripping of isopropyl-alcohol and toluene in a falling film micro reactor: Gas side mass transfer experiments and modelling at isothermal conditions

A falling film micro reactor has been investigated as a contactor for a separation process in order to be implemented in fine chemical and pharmaceutical production. Nitrogen stripping of a pure solvent was performed allowing straightforward mass transfer measurements due to the absence of resistance in the liquid side.Two mass transfer models were developed in this study, a semi-analytical one based on the mass balance equations combined with an existing Sherwood correlation for laminar flow in micro channels and a numerical model solving the hydrodynamics and mass transport equations. Very good agreement was found between the two models, which were then compared with experimental data. The experimental values of stripping efficiency agree with the calculated ones with an error of ±15% showing good modelling prediction. The calculated gas side mass transfer coefficients of the investigated micro contactor are in the range of 0.007–0.01ms−1.