Analysis of mixing in a curved microchannel with rectangular grooves

Abstract The mixing of fluids in a microchannel with grooves in its side walls is numerically investigated using three-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations. First, the mixing and fluid flows are analyzed over a range of Reynolds number from 0.5 to 90. Second, the effects of geometric parameters (e.g., the width and depth of the rectangular grooves) on mixing performance are investigated. The degree of mixing is evaluated using a mixing index that is defined using the variance of mass fraction. Grooved microchannels produce better mixing performance than smooth microchannels at Reynolds numbers greater than 10. The mixing index is sensitive to the width of the grooves for some Reynolds number range, but is not sensitive to the depth of the grooves. The characteristic of the pressure drop depending on Reynolds number is also investigated.

[1]  Abraham D Stroock,et al.  Investigation of the staggered herringbone mixer with a simple analytical model , 2004, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences.

[2]  King Lun Yeung,et al.  Experiments and modeling of membrane microreactors , 2005 .

[3]  Krishna D.P. Nigam,et al.  Mixing in curved tubes , 2006 .

[4]  Kwang-Yong Kim,et al.  Analysis and optimization of a micromixer with a modified Tesla structure , 2010 .

[5]  T. R. Shih,et al.  Design and experiments of a short-mixing-length baffled microreactor and its application to microfluidic synthesis of nanoparticles , 2011 .

[6]  Kwang-Yong Kim,et al.  Evaluation of the mixing performance of three passive micromixers , 2009 .

[7]  Chien-Hsiung Tsai,et al.  Application of electrokinetic instability flow for enhanced micromixing in cross-shaped microchannel , 2006, Biomedical microdevices.

[8]  V. Hessel,et al.  Micromixers—a review on passive and active mixing principles , 2005 .

[9]  Armand Ajdari,et al.  Patterning flows using grooved surfaces. , 2002, Analytical chemistry.

[10]  Asterios Gavriilidis,et al.  Incorporating zeolites in microchemical systems , 2002 .

[11]  Kwang-Yong Kim,et al.  Parametric study on mixing of two fluids in a three-dimensional serpentine microchannel , 2009 .

[12]  Ruey-Jen Yang,et al.  Electrokinetic mixing in microfluidic systems , 2007 .

[13]  I. Mezić,et al.  Chaotic Mixer for Microchannels , 2002, Science.

[14]  Miko Elwenspoek,et al.  Characterization method for a new diffusion mixer applicable in micro flow injection analysis systems , 1999 .

[15]  Eduardo López,et al.  Ethanol steam reforming over cobalt talc in a plate microreactor , 2011 .

[16]  Aikaterini A. Mouza,et al.  Mixing performance of a chaotic micro-mixer , 2008 .

[17]  M. Ward,et al.  Micro T-mixer as a rapid mixing micromixer , 2004 .

[18]  Steffen Hardt,et al.  Laminar mixing in different interdigital micromixers: II. Numerical simulations , 2003 .

[19]  H. Bau,et al.  A minute magneto hydro dynamic (MHD) mixer , 2001 .

[20]  Kenji Tajima,et al.  PDMS microchannels with slanted grooves embedded in three walls to realize efficient spiral flow , 2005 .

[21]  Kwang-Yong Kim,et al.  A Numerical Study of Mixing in a Microchannel with Circular Mixing Chambers , 2009 .

[22]  Steffen Hardt,et al.  Helical Flows and Chaotic Mixing in Curved Micro Channels , 2004 .

[23]  D. Hassell,et al.  Investigation of the convective motion through a staggered herringbone micromixer at low Reynolds number flow , 2006 .

[24]  Robin H. Liu,et al.  Passive mixing in a three-dimensional serpentine microchannel , 2000, Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems.

[25]  T. Kwon,et al.  Numerical characterization of three‐dimensional serpentine micromixers , 2008 .

[26]  Hiroshi Goto,et al.  Ultrasonic micromixer for microfluidic systems , 2000, Proceedings IEEE Thirteenth Annual International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (Cat. No.00CH36308).

[27]  J. Aubin,et al.  Characterization of the Mixing Quality in Micromixers , 2003 .

[28]  Yoon‐Kyoung Cho,et al.  A new method to measure zeta potentials of microfabricated channels by applying a time-periodic electric field in a T-channel , 2007 .

[29]  Weijia Wen,et al.  Active microfluidic mixer chip , 2006 .

[30]  A. Manz,et al.  Miniaturized total chemical analysis systems: A novel concept for chemical sensing , 1990 .