Numerical Simulation of Fluid Mixing in Micro-Mixers

2015 ◽  
Vol 659 ◽  
pp. 671-675
Author(s):  
Supasit Prasertlarp ◽  
Sompong Putivisutisak
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Simulation ◽  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Pressure Drop ◽  
Aspect Ratio ◽  
Ultrasound Imaging ◽  
Vortex Structure ◽  
Flow Dynamics ◽  
Fluid Mixing ◽  
Mixing Efficiency ◽  
Inlet Velocity

A 3-D numerical simulation is performed to study the flow dynamics and mixing characteristics between two different kinds of fluid within T-shaped micro-mixers. Water and ethanol are selected as the mixing fluids due to its application in calibrating the ultrasound imaging equipment. The present work focuses on the effects of inlet velocity and aspect ratio of the mixing channel. The Reynolds number is varied from 0.1 to 300 and the aspect ratio in the range between 0.2 and 1. The flow of interest is laminar, steady and without chemical reaction. It is found that at low Reynolds number, the stratified flow character is presented. As the velocity inlet increases, the mixing efficiency is decreased. However, for the Reynolds number greater than 100 the mixing efficiency is increased due to the buildup vortex structure. Furthermore, when increasing the Reynolds number, the pressure drop significantly increases. Thus, it is seen that both the inlet velocity and aspect ratio significantly affect the mixing efficiency and pressure drop.

Analysis of mixing performances in microchannel with obstacles of different aspect ratios

2019 ◽  
Vol 233 (5) ◽  
pp. 1045-1051 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bappa Mondal ◽  
Sukumar Pati ◽  
PK Patowari
Keyword(s):  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Pressure Drop ◽  
Aspect Ratio ◽  
Flow Condition ◽  
Schmidt Number ◽  
Mixing Efficiency ◽  
Rectangular Microchannel ◽  
Mixing Performance ◽  
Aspect Ratios ◽  
Flow Through

In this study, the mixing performance and pressure drop characteristics have been numerically analyzed for flow through rectangular microchannel with obstacles in the walls arranged in a staggered manner. Three different aspect ratios (AR) of the obstacles are considered, namely 4:1, 1:1, and 1:4. The effects of aspect ratio of the obstacles on the mixing efficiency and the pressure drop are analyzed and compared with that of the channel without obstacle. The results are presented in terms of Reynolds number (Re) and Schmidt number (Sc) in the following range: 0.2 ≤ Re ≤ 1 and 500 ≤ Sc ≤ 1500. Enhanced mixing efficiency is achieved for the case of microchannel with obstacles and the corresponding pressure drop is also found to be higher. The mixing efficiency as well as the pressure drop is maximum for AR = 1:4 among all the geometries considered in the analysis in same flow condition. Furthermore, for a given configuration of the microchannel the mixing efficiency is governed by the mass Peclet number and, accordingly, the mixing efficiency increases with the decrease in Schmidt number for a given Reynolds number.

Parametric Study of Obstacle Geometry Effect on Mixing Performance in a Convergent-Divergent Micromixer with Sinusoidal Walls

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fazlollah Heshmatnezhad ◽  
Halimeh Aghaei ◽  
Ali Reza Solaimany Nazar
Keyword(s):  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Pressure Drop ◽  
Aspect Ratio ◽  
Molecular Diffusion ◽  
Reynolds Numbers ◽  
Secondary Flows ◽  
Mixing Efficiency ◽  
Main Concept ◽  
Mixing Index ◽  
Operational Parameter

Abstract This study presents a numerical simulation through computational fluid dynamics on mixing and flow structures in convergent-divergent micromixer with a triangular obstacle. The main concept in this design is to enhance the interfacial area between the two fluids by creating a transverse flow and split, and recombination of fluids flow due to the presence of obstacles. The effect of triangular obstacle size, the number of units, changing the position of an obstacle in the mixing channel and operational parameter like the Reynolds number on the mixing efficiency and pressure drop are assessed. The results indicate that at inlet Reynolds numbers below 5, the molecular diffusion is the most important mechanism of mixing, and the mixing index is almost the same for all cases. By increasing the inlet Reynolds number above 5, mixing index increases dramatically, due to the secondary flows. Based on the simulation results, due to increasing the effect of dean and separation vortices as well as more recirculation of flow in the side branches and behind the triangular obstacle, the highest mixing index is obtained at the aspect ratio of 2 for the triangular obstacle and its position at the front of the mixing unit. Also the highest value of mixing index is obtained by six unit of mixing chamber. The effect of changing the position of the obstacle in the channel and changing the aspect ratio of the obstacle is evident in high Reynolds numbers. An increase in the Reynolds number in both cases (changing the aspect ratio and position of the obstacle) leads to pressure drop increases.

Effects of Obstacles on the Mixing Performance in Microchannels

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tae-An Kim ◽  
Youn-Jea Kim
Keyword(s):  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Pressure Drop ◽  
Aspect Ratio ◽  
Lower Layer ◽  
Flow Direction ◽  
Diffusion Path ◽  
Mixing Efficiency ◽  
Convection Flow ◽  
Rectangular Microchannel ◽  
Mixing Performance

The mixing of two or more fluid streams in microchannels needs quite long channel lengths. Therefore, in order to improve the mixing performance, obstacles have been placed in the channel to disrupt flow and to reduce the diffusion path. The disruption to flow velocity field alters the flow direction from one fluid to another. Properly designed geometric parameters, such as layout, angle with main flow direction and aspect ratio of obstacles, will be resulted in improving the mixing performance with only little increase of the pressure drop. In this study, T-type rectangular microchannel is used, which has two inlets with W×H×L = 100×100×100 μm3 and one outlet with W×H×L = 200×100×6950 μm3. Furthermore, the mixing channel has obstacles which are placed with an angle of inclination and with dimensions W×H×L = 10×100×h μm3 on the lower layer. In order to estimate the performance of the mixing, numerical analyses are carried out with water and ethanol. Especially, the diffusion coefficient, D, is set to 10−10 m2/s for simulating two-fluid diffusion-convection flow, the mixing efficiency and the pressure drop of microchannel are investigated with various values of the angle of inclination, aspect ratio (h = αH) of obstacle and Reynolds number. When the flow passes through on the obstacles, rotation flow is observed. This flow pattern is repeated at each cycle. Besides, in each case that obstacles are turned to the center of channel and to the side walls, rotational direction is changed reversely. In case of pressure drop, as the Reynolds number, the angle of obstacle (θ) and the aspect ratio (α) are increased, the pressure drop is also increased. Results show that the ratio between the maximum and minimum of pressure drop is the order-of-magnitude of 1 at Re = 1.667. Results also show that the angle of inclination of obstacles has more influence on the mixing performance than the height of obstacles and Reynolds number.

Air Flow Analysis in Square Duct Bend

2014 ◽  
Vol 695 ◽  
pp. 622-626 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamad Nor Musa ◽  
Mohd Nurul Hafiz Mukhtar
Keyword(s):  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Pressure Drop ◽  
Cross Section ◽  
Air Flow ◽  
Flow Analysis ◽  
Maximum Velocity ◽  
Maximum Pressure ◽  
Air Velocity ◽  
Square Duct ◽  
Inlet Velocity

This paper present new result for experimental analysis of air flow velocity and pressure distributions between two ducts bend: (1) 90° duct bend with a single turning vane having 0.03m radius and (2) 90° duct bend with double turning vane, in 0.06 × 0.06 m duct cross section. The experiment used five different Reynolds numbers chosen between the ranges 1 ×104 and 6×104. Each experiment has four point measurements: (1) point 1 and point 2 at cross section A-A and (2) point 3 and point 4 at cross section B-B. The first experimental study used single turning vane radius 0.03m with inlet air velocity from 2.5m/s to 12.2m/s. And for the second experiment that used square turning vane with 0.03m radius. In experiment 2, the inlet air velocity also start from 2.5m/s to 12.2m/s. From analysis results, the pressure drop in experiment 1 is higher than experiment 2. As example the maximum pressure drop at 7.5m/s inlet air velocity between point 1 and 3 was found to be 71.6203 Pa in experiment 1 as compared to 61.8093 Pa in experiment 2. The velocity after duct bend is greater when using double turning vane compare used single turning vane as maximum velocity at point 3 in experiment 2 compare to velocity at point 3 in experiment 1 that is 55.677× 10-4 m/s and 54.221× 10-4 m/s. The velocity at duct wall is equal to zero. When increase the value of Reynolds number or inlet velocity, the maximum velocity and total pressure also increase. For example in experiment 1 at point 1, the velocity is 48.785 × 10-4 m/s at Reynolds number 1 ×104 and velocity 65.115×10-4 m/s at Reynolds number 12.2 ×104 . Velocity flow in duct section are lower than inlet velocity. In experiment 1, the inlet velocity is 2.5m/s meanwhile the maximum velocity in the duct section at point 2 is 73.075×10-4 m/s that is much more lower than inlet velocity.

Numerical Simulation on Micromixer Based on Syntehtic Jet

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. H. Liu ◽  
X. F. Zhang ◽  
X. D. Cai ◽  
Y. L. Chen
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Simulation ◽  
Numerical Simulations ◽  
Rectangular Channel ◽  
Synthetic Jet ◽  
Mixing Efficiency ◽  
Mixing Index ◽  
Inlet Velocity ◽  
Velocity Magnitude ◽  
Jet Velocity

This paper studied a concept of micromixer with a synthetic jet placed at the bottom of a rectangular channel. Due to periodic ejections from and suctions into the channel, the fluids are mixed effectively. To study the effects of the inlet velocity, the jet intensity and frequency, and the jet location on the mixing efficiency, 3-D numerical simulations of the micromixer have been carried out. It has been found that when the jet intensity and the frequency are fixed, the mixing efficiency increases when Re<50, and decreases when Re>50 with the best mixing efficiency achieved at Re=50. When the ratio of the jet velocity magnitude to the inlet velocity is taken as 10 and the jet frequency is 100Hz, the mixing index reaches the highest value. It has also been found that to get better mixing efficiency, the orifice of the synthetic jet should be asymmetrically located away from the channel’s centerline.

scholarly journals Fluid Flow and Entropy Generation Analysis of Al2O3–Water Nanofluid in Microchannel Plate Fin Heat Sinks

Entropy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (8) ◽  
pp. 739 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hao Ma ◽  
Zhipeng Duan ◽  
Liangbin Su ◽  
Xiaoru Ning ◽  
Jiao Bai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Pressure Drop ◽  
Aspect Ratio ◽  
Entropy Generation ◽  
Volume Fraction ◽  
Microchannel Plate ◽  
Heat Sinks ◽  
Entropy Generation Rate ◽  
Nanoparticle Volume Fraction ◽  
Channel Aspect Ratio

The flow in channels of microdevices is usually in the developing regime. Three-dimensional laminar flow characteristics of a nanofluid in microchannel plate fin heat sinks are investigated numerically in this paper. Deionized water and Al2O3–water nanofluid are employed as the cooling fluid in our work. The effects of the Reynolds number (100 < Re < 1000), channel aspect ratio (0 < ε < 1), and nanoparticle volume fraction (0.5% < Φ < 5%) on pressure drop and entropy generation in microchannel plate fin heat sinks are examined in detail. Herein, the general expression of the entropy generation rate considering entrance effects is developed. The results revealed that the frictional entropy generation and pressure drop increase as nanoparticle volume fraction and Reynolds number increase, while decrease as the channel aspect ratio increases. When the nanoparticle volume fraction increases from 0 to 3% at Re = 500, the pressure drop of microchannel plate fin heat sinks with ε = 0.5 increases by 9%. It is demonstrated that the effect of the entrance region is crucial for evaluating the performance of microchannel plate fin heat sinks. The study may shed some light on the design and optimization of microchannel heat sinks.

Analysis of the Pressure Drop of the Horizontal Liquid-Solid Circulation Fluidization Bed with Kenics Static Mixers

2013 ◽  
Vol 291-294 ◽  
pp. 791-794
Author(s):  
Yan Liu ◽  
Shao Feng Zhang ◽  
Jiang Tao Wang
Keyword(s):  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Pressure Drop ◽  
Aspect Ratio ◽  
Friction Factor ◽  
Static Mixer ◽  
Experiment Data ◽  
Dimensionless Parameters ◽  
Static Mixers ◽  
Dimensionless Pressure ◽  
Dimension Analysis

In order to obtain the pressure drop of the horizontal liquid-solid circulation fluidization bed with Kenics static mixers, experiments were carried out in four Kenics static mixers with different aspect ratio of mixing element(AR) over a range of 30000 to 51000 to get pressure drop data. Dimension analysis revealed that the pressure drop characteristic of the Kenics static mixer can be described by three dimensionless parameters, such as the friction factor, Reynolds number, and aspect ratio of mixing element. According to the experiment data, a new dimensionless pressure drop correlation was developed. The results indicate that the value of Cf becomes constant and has no correlation with the value of Re in fixed AR. The value of Cf was increased with the increase of AR.

Effect of Cross Aspect Ratio on Flow in Diverging and Converging Microchannels

2017 ◽  
Vol 139 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
V. S. Duryodhan ◽  
Shiv Govind Singh ◽  
Amit Agrawal
Keyword(s):  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Pressure Drop ◽  
Aspect Ratio ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Hydraulic Diameter ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Flow Acceleration ◽  
Three Dimensional Models

Aspect ratio is an important parameter in the study of flow through noncircular microchannel. In this work, three-dimensional numerical study is carried out to understand the effect of cross aspect ratio (height to width) on flow in diverging and converging microchannels. Three-dimensional models of the diverging and converging microchannels with angle: 2–14 deg, aspect ratio: 0.05–0.58, and Reynolds number: 130–280 are employed in the simulations with water as the working fluid. The effects of aspect ratio on pressure drop in equivalent diverging and converging microchannels are studied in detail and correlated to the underlying flow regime. It is observed that for a given Reynolds number and angle, the pressure drop decreases asymptotically with aspect ratio for both the diverging and converging microchannels. At small aspect ratio and small Reynolds number, the pressure drop remains invariant of angle in both the diverging and converging microchannels; the concept of equivalent hydraulic diameter can be applied to these situations. Onset of flow separation in diverging passage and flow acceleration in converging passage is found to be a strong function of aspect ratio, which has not been shown earlier. The existence of a critical angle with relevance to the concept of equivalent hydraulic diameter is identified and its variation with Reynolds number is discussed. Finally, the effect of aspect ratio on fluidic diodicity is discussed which will be helpful in the design of valveless micropump. These results help in extending the conventional formulae made for uniform cross-sectional channel to that for the diverging and converging microchannels.

Three-Dimensional Simulation of Micro Air Vehicles with Low-Aspect-Ratio Wings

2007 ◽  
Vol 339 ◽  
pp. 377-381
Author(s):  
Xiao Quan Zhang ◽  
L. Tian
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Simulation ◽  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Wind Tunnel ◽  
Aspect Ratio ◽  
Low Reynolds Number ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Micro Air Vehicles ◽  
Wind Tunnel Experiments ◽  
Low Aspect Ratio ◽  
Dimensional Simulation

Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs) are catching more and more attentions for their broad application in civilian and military fields. Since the theories on the aerodynamics of low Reynolds number are not maturely presented and the wind-tunnel experiments cost long periods and great expenses. The numerical simulation based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a good method to choose. Through three-dimensional simulation of the wings, the aerodynamic characteristics of the flows around MAVs can be easily obtained. The tip vortices produced around low-Reynolds-number and low-aspect-ratio wings can increase the lift and stall angles. The result of numerical simulation can be used as references of theory analysis and wind-tunnel experiments.

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