Numerical study of droplet breakup and merging in a microfluidic channel

作者：Lee Jaewon; Lee Woorim; Son Gihun^*

来源：Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology, 2013, 27(6): 1693-1699.

DOI：10.1007/s12206-013-0418-y

• Droplet breakup
• Droplet merging
• VOF (volume-of-fluid) method
• Microfluidic channel

Droplet breakup and merging in a microfluidic channel, which are applied to lab-on-a-chip devices for biomedical testing and synthesis, are simulated numerically by solving the conservation equations of mass and momentum. The droplet surface is computed using the volume-of-fluid method of the commercial code FLUENT. The numerical simulation demonstrates that the variation of obstacle geometry in a microchannel determines the droplet breakup pattern and the volume fraction of split droplets. The computation also shows that droplet merging depends on the channel-chamber width ratio. The effect of microchannel and obstacle configuration on the droplet motion is investigated to find the optimal conditions for droplet breakup and merging.

• 出版日期2013-6