Effects of geometric configuration on droplet generation in Y-junctions and anti-Y-junctions microchannels

Droplets generation in Y-junctions and anti-Yjunctions microchannels are experimentally studied using a high speed digital microscopic system and numerical simulation.Geometric configuration of a microchannel,such as Y-angle(90°,135°,-90° and-135°),channel depth and other factors have been taken into consideration.It is found that droplets generated in anti-Y-junctions have a smaller size and a shorter generation cycle compared with those in Yjunctions under the same experimental conditions.Through observing the internal velocity field,the vortex appearing in continuous phase in anti-Y-junctions is one of the key factors for the difference of droplet size and generation cycle.It is found that droplet size is bigger and generation cycle is longer when the absolute angle value of the intersection between the continuous and the dispersed phases(i.e.,the angle between the main channel and the continuous phase or the dispersed phase channel) increases.The droplet's size is influenced by the Y-angle,which varies with the channel depth in Y-junctions.The Y-angle has a positive effect on the droplet generation cycle,but a smaller height-width ratio will enhance the impact of a continuous and dispersed phase's intersection angle on the droplet generation cycle in Y-junctions microchannels.     

Diagnosis of oscillating pressure-driven flow in a microdiffuser using micro-PIV

In this study, the characteristics of oscillating pressure-driven flow in a microdiffuser are examined by μPIV (micro Particle Image Velocimetry) diagnostics. Utilizing a cam-follower system, a dynamic pressure generator is built in-house to provide a time-varying sinusoidal pressure source. Three parameters are examined experimentally: the excitation frequency, the cam size, and the half-angle of the microdiffuser. Driven by oscillating pressure, we find that there exists an optimal half-angle such that maximum net flow is attained in the expansion direction. Contrarily to the prediction of hydraulics theory which only considers steady flow, flow in the microdiffuser of the optimal half-angle does not necessarily remain attached. Rather, maximum net flow can also occur in microdiffusers where vortices retain a slender shape. When vortex bubbles are slender, the μPIV results reveal that the core flow accelerates to a higher forward velocity during the first half of the cycle and flow rectification is actually enhanced. Due to the three-dimensional flow structure, fluid is drawn out of the vortices near the reattachment point to join the core flow and consequently magnifies the forward flow. As the half-angle increases, vortices become rounder and the core flow is drastically narrowed to reduce flow rectification.     

Optically sliced micro-PIV using confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM)

Optically sliced microscopic-particle image velocimetry (micro-PIV) is developed using confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). The developed PIV system shows a unique optical slicing capability allowing true depth-wise resolved micro-PIV vector field mapping. A comparative study between CLSM micro-PIV and conventional epi-fluorescence micro-PIV is presented. Both techniques have been applied to the creeping Poiseuille flows in two different microtubes of 99-m (Re=0.00275) and 516-m ID diameters (Re=0.021), which are respectively imaged by a 40×-0.75NA objective with an estimated 2.8-m optical slice thickness, and by a 10×-0.30NA objective with a 26.7-m slicing. Compared to conventional micro-PIV, CLSM micro-PIV consistently shows significantly improved particle image contrasts, definitions, and measured flow vector fields agreeing more accurately with predictions based on the Poiseuille flow fields. The data improvement due to the optical slicing of CLSM micro-PIV is more pronounced with higher magnification imaging with higher NA objectives for a smaller microtube.

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Flow rate estimation in large depth-of-field micro-PIV

In micro-Particle Image Velocimetry, the requirement of a large field-of-view often results in a large depth-of-correlation, i.e. large depth of the measurement volume. When the velocity varies substantially over the depth-of-correlation, special attention should be paid to a correct interpretation of the measured velocities. When a specialized microscope is needed to meet the requirements of a setup, the resulting more complex optical arrangements can have additional effects on the measurement results. In order to determine flow parameters such as the flow rate, it is sufficient to have a robust estimate of the maximum velocity when the flow is Poiseuille flow. In this paper, an interpretation of the results from particle image velocimetry measurements with low magnification in a round capillary is given for two types of microscopes: a conventional and a specialized microscope. The measured velocity appears to be lower than the maximum velocity, yet is still above the average velocity. The interpretation of the measured velocity differs for the two types of microscopes. The under-estimation of the maximum velocity obtained from the conventional microscope remains small (within 6%) for low-magnification measurements, while the under-estimation of the maximum velocity obtained from the specialized microscope increases up to 25% for a large depth-of-correlation. The images of the in- and out-of-focus particles turn out to play a crucial role in this difference between the two microscopes. Validation of the optical properties of a microscope is important, especially for specialized microscopes where particle images deviate substantially from the existing theory, and this theory is also used to derive the analytical expression for the depth-of-correlation. A procedure is recommended to obtain a correct interpretation of the measured velocity. This procedure is generally applicable, but mainly of importance for specialized microscopes.     

Investigation of boundary layers in internal combustion engines using a hybrid algorithm of high speed micro-PIV and PTV

Heat transfer properties vary locally and temporally in internal combustion engines due to variations in the boundary layer flow. In order to characterize the dynamics in the boundary layer, crank-angle resolved high-speed micro particle image velocimetry (μPIV) and particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) have been used for near-wall velocity measurements in a spark-ignition direct-injection single cylinder engine. A 527-nm dual cavity green Nd:YLF laser was used for velocity measurements near the cylinder head wall between the intake and exhaust valves in the tumble mean flow plane parallel to the cylinder axis. A long-distance microscope was used to obtain a spatial resolution of 45 μm. Flow fields were determined from 180 to 490 CAD in the compression and expansion strokes. The data show significant variation in the flow during the compression and expansion strokes and from cycle to cycle. Flow deceleration was observed during the end of the compression that continued during the expansion stroke until 400 CAD when the flow direction reverses. Sub-millimeter-sized vortical structures were observed within the boundary layer over extended periods of time.     

Three-component micro-PIV using the continuity equation and a comparison of the performance with that of stereoscopic measurements

Recently, a number of techniques have been presented for the determination of the third “out-of-plane” velocity component in micro particle image velocimetry (micro-PIV) data. In particular, the conventional macroscopic stereo-PIV technique has been converted to the micro scale by the use of stereo-microscopy. In this work a different technique is investigated, which uses conventional, two-component micro-PIV to generate velocity data on a number of planes. The in-plane velocity gradients are then calculated, which can be used in the continuity equation to produce the out-of-plane velocity gradients. These, together with the no-penetration boundary condition, can then be used to calculate the out-of-plane velocities. An algorithm is presented that is capable of handling up to one invalid vector per column of data by using a combination of first order and second order projections of the velocity. The advantage of the continuity based technique is that it uses the existing two-component micro-PIV technology, which at present is in a more advanced stage of development then stereo-microscopy based micro-PIV. The technique is investigated using a flow similar to one used previously to assess stereoscopic micro-PIV (Meas Sci Technol 17:2175–2185, 2006). This allows a comparison of the performance of the two techniques. The results show that the continuity based data agrees well with an independent computational fluid dynamics solution and has a smaller experimental uncertainty than the stereoscopic technique at a better spatial resolution. There are, however, potential limitations to the continuity based technique. These include the two-dimensionality of the data, which is limited to the planes on which the original images were taken, and the dependence of the technique on the data close to surfaces, where the experimental errors are often greatest. Stereoscopic micro-PIV does not have these limitations so, whilst at present it appears that continuity based techniques may be more accurate, there is sufficient potential for stereoscopic techniques to justify their further development.     

Creation of very-low-Reynolds-number chaotic fluid motions in microchannels using viscoelastic surfactant solution

Solutions of flexible high-molecular-weight polymers or some kinds of surfactant are viscoelastic fluids. The elastic stress is induced in such viscoelastic fluid flows and grows nonlinearly with the flow-rate resulting in many particular flow phenomena, including purely elastic instability. The purely elastic instability can even result in a kind of chaotic fluid motion, the so-called elastic turbulence, which is a recently discovered flow phenomenon and arises at arbitrarily small Reynolds number. By using viscoelastic surfactant solution, we attempted to create the peculiar chaotic fluid motions in several specially designed microchannels in which flows with curvilinear streamlines can be generated. The viscoelastic working fluids were aqueous solutions of surfactant, CTAC/NaSal (cetyltrimethyl ammonium chloride/sodium salicylate). CTAC solutions with weight concentration of 200 ppm (part per million) and 1000 ppm, respectively, at room temperature were tested. For comparison, water flows in the same microchannels were also visualized. The Reynolds numbers for all the microchannel flows were quite small (for solution flows, the Reynolds numbers were the order of or smaller than one) and the flow should be definitely laminar for Newtonian fluid. It was found that the regular laminar flow patterns for low-Reynolds-number Newtonian fluid flow in different microchannels were strongly deformed in solution flows: either asymmetrical flow structures or time-dependent vortical fluid motions appeared. These chaotic flow phenomena were considered to be induced by the viscoelasticity of the CTAC solutions. Discussions about the potential applications using such kind of chaotic fluid motions were also made.     

Measurement of liquid film in microchannels using a laser focus displacement meter

This paper presents a new method for measuring the interfacial displacement of a liquid film in microchannels using a laser focus displacement meter (LFD). The purpose of the study is to clarify the effectiveness of the new method for obtaining detailed information concerning interfacial displacement, especially in the case of a thin liquid film, in microchannels and minichannels. To prevent the tube wall signal from disturbing that of the gas–liquid interface, a fluorocarbon tube with a water box was used; the refraction index of this device is the same as that for water. With this method, accurate instantaneous measurements of the interfacial displacement of the liquid film were achieved. The error caused by refraction of the laser beam passing through the acrylic water box and fluorocarbon tube was estimated analytically and experimentally. The formulated analytical equation can estimate the real interface displacement by using the measured displacement in a fluorocarbon tube of 25 m to 2.0 mm I.D. A preliminary test using fluorocarbon tubes of 1 mm and 2 mm I.D. showed that the corrected interface displacement calculated by the equation agreed with the real displacement to within a 1% margin of error. It was also confirmed that the LFD in the system could measure a liquid film of 0.25 m at the thinnest. We made simultaneous measurements of the interface in fluorocarbon tubes of 0.5 mm and 1 mm I.D. using the LFD and a high-speed video camera with a microscope. These showed that the LFD could measure the interface of a liquid film with high spatial and temporal resolution during annular, slug, and piston flow regimes. The data also clarified the existence of a thin liquid film of less than 1 m in thickness in the slug and annular flow regimes.     

用格子Boltzmann方法数值模拟混合层中旋涡的合并过程

用格子Boltzmann方法计算混合层中的流动问题。在流场的入口处加不同频率、振幅和相位的小扰动,观察混合层中旋涡的演进机理,模拟二维混合层中旋涡合并现象。在基本扰动波的基础上,又加入频率为基本波频率一半的亚谐波,得到了两个涡合并的计算结果,当加入的亚谐波频率为基本波频率的三分之一时,得到了三个涡合并的计算结果。这些计算结果与已有文献的结果基本一致,显示用格子Boltzmann方法模拟混合层问题是可行的。     

Modeling of droplet collisions using Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics

We present an approach to model collisions of different droplets using Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH). We consider bouncing and coalescence of two droplets. We only discretize the droplets neglecting the gaseous phase and consider a free surface at the boundaries. We use a modified continuum surface force model for the surface tension at a free surface. The transition between bouncing and coalescence is modeled using a critical Weber number and calculating the loss of kinetic energy during the collision to determine the point of coalescence. We demonstrate numerical convergence and analyze the error of the method for the transition of bouncing and coalescence. We show that the proposed approach is applicable to weakly-compressible SPH and incompressible SPH and compare binary collisions of Newtonian droplets with experimental results from the literature. Finally we apply the model to non-Newtonian droplets that show shear-thinning and shear-thickening behavior and discuss the differences to Newtonian droplets.     

Numerical simulation of shock wave propagation in microchannels using continuum and kinetic approaches

Numerical simulations of shock wave propagation in microchannels and microtubes (viscous shock tube problem) have been performed using three different approaches: the Navier–Stokes equations with the velocity slip and temperature jump boundary conditions, the statistical Direct Simulation Monte Carlo method for the Boltzmann equation, and the model kinetic Bhatnagar–Gross–Krook equation with the Shakhov equilibrium distribution function. Effects of flow rarefaction and dissipation are investigated and the results obtained with different approaches are compared. A parametric study of the problem for different Knudsen numbers and initial shock strengths is carried out using the Navier–Stokes computations.      

Oscillatory flow in microchannels

Commonly used, lumped-parameter expressions for the impedance of an incompressible viscous fluid subjected to harmonic oscillations in a channel were compared with exact expressions, based on solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations for slots and channels of circular and rectangular cross-section, and were found to differ by as much as 30% in amplitude. These differences resulted in predicted discrepancies by as much as 400% in frequency response amplitude for simple second-order systems based on size scales and frequencies encountered in microfluidic devices. These predictions were verified experimentally for rectangular microchannels and indicate that underdamped fluidic systems operating near the corner frequency of any included flow channel should be modeled with exact expressions for impedance to avoid potentially large errors in predicted behavior.List of symbols A Channel cross-sectional area (m²) - A_c Membrane area (m²) - a Rectangular duct and slot half-width or radius (m) - b Rectangular duct half-depth and slot depth (m) - C Capacitance (m³/Pa) - C - D_h Channel hydraulic diameter (m) - E Voltage (V) - f Darcy friction factor - F Force (N) - I Channel inertance (Pa s²/m³) - i - Imaginary part of a complex number - J_k Bessel function of the first kind of order k - System transfer function - K Sum of minor loss factors - k Membrane stiffness (N/m) - L Channel length (m) - n Outward unit normal vector - P Fluid pressure (Pa) - p_n - Q Volumetric flow rate (m³/s) - R Channel resistance (Pa s/m³) - Real part of a complex number - Re Reynolds number, - V Velocity (m/s) - _V Volume (m³) - w Axial component of velocity (m/s) - Harmonic amplitude of membrane centerline displacement - Fluid impedance (kg/m⁴ s) - Duct aspect ratio, b/a - ² Nondimensional frequency parameter, - Nondimensional corner frequency, - Membrane shape factor - C/C - µ Fluid dynamic viscosity (Pa s) - Fluid kinematic viscosity (m²/s) - Mass density (kg/m³) - Radian frequency - _c R_s/I_s cutoff or corner frequency - _n Undamped natural frequency - Channel shape parameter in Eqs. 29 and 30 - Damping ratio - ( )_e Exact property - ( )_s Simplified property - (^–) Spatial average - Complex quantity     

Premixed flame flashback in wall boundary layers studied by long-distance micro-PIV

Premixed flame propagation against the main flow direction in wall boundary layers, a situation known as wall flashback, has been studied by long-distance particle image velocimetry with spatial micron resolution (μ-PIV) and simultaneous flame luminescence recordings. Numerical simulations of laminar wall flashback assist the interpretation of the experimental results. Inside a turbulent boundary layer, the flame propagates in discrete flame cusps pointing in upstream direction and showing a well-defined pattern of formation and break-up. In a laminar boundary layer, the leading flame region is smooth and exhibits low curvature. The instantaneous velocity fields reveal a backflow region upstream of the flame during flashback, which is constrained to the leading flame zone. The backflow is caused by an interaction between the pressure increase upstream of the flame and the boundary layer. The flashback limit is controlled by thermal quenching of the flame tip in the backflow region.     

Measurement of the surface concentration (liquid) of an evaporating multicomponent droplet using pendant droplet method

The surface concentration on the liquid side of the interface of an evaporating multicomponent droplet could be different from the bulk concentration. In this work, surface tension is used as a means to measure surface concentration of an evaporating multicomponent droplet. Surface tension is measured using pendant droplet method that relies on the best fit between theoretical and experimental drop profiles. Surface tension is a surface property, and it exhibits a dependence on concentration. Hence, it is an ideal candidate to track the variation of surface concentration during the evaporation of a multicomponent droplet. This method is used to study the evaporation of ethanol–water and methanol–water droplets. The correctness and applicability of this technique are critically assessed, and important observations are made for single droplet evaporation for these binary mixtures.     

Visualization of air flow using infrared thermography

A technique to visualize airflow using IR thermography is developed. A trace quantity of sulfur hexafluoride (SF₆) gas is injected into the flow field to detect intensity patterns using a scanning IR thermography system with a single 8–13 μm bandwidth detector. Equations that relate the intensity patterns to volume-averaged temperature and SF6 mass concentration are presented. The visualization technique involves using a background surface at a known temperature different from that of the flow and image subtraction. The technique is demonstrated on free, impinging, and reattachment subsonic air jets, and is shown to be an effective means of visualizing flows at both elevated and ambient temperatures. Published online: 9 January 2003     

Measurements of droplet size in shear-driven atomization using ultra-small angle x-ray scattering

Measurements of droplet size in optically-thick, non-evaporating, shear-driven sprays have been made using ultra-small angle x-ray scattering (USAXS). The sprays are produced by orifice-type nozzles coupled to diesel injectors, with measurements conducted from 1 – 24 mm from the orifice, spanning from the optically-dense near-nozzle region to more dilute regions where optical diagnostics are feasible. The influence of nozzle diameter, liquid injection pressure, and ambient density were examined. The USAXS measurements reveal few if any nanoscale droplets, in conflict with a popular computational model of diesel spray breakup. The average droplet diameter rapidly decreases with downstream distance from the nozzle until a plateau value is reached, after which only small changes are seen in droplet diameter. This plateau droplet size is consistent with the droplets being small enough to be stable with respect to further breakup. Liquid injection pressure and nozzle diameter have the biggest impact on droplet size, while ambient density has a smaller effect.     

Evaporating and combusting droplet temperature measurements using two-color laser-induced fluorescence

 The paper presents a new technique based on laser-induced fluorescence, allowing droplet temperature measurement of evaporating and combusting droplets to be performed. The liquid spray is seeded with a low concentration of rhodamine B. The fluorescence, induced by the green line of an argon laser, is measured on two separated color bands. It is demonstrated that two color bands can be selected for their strong difference in the temperature sensitivity of the fluorescence quantum yield. The determination of the fluorescence ratio between the fluorescence intensity corresponding to each color band allows the tracer concentration and the droplet size dependences to be eliminated. The technique was applied on a monodisperse spray: the effect of a thermal impulse on the distribution of the droplet temperature is studied and, the temperature of combusting droplets is investigated. Received: 16 June 2000/Accepted: 10 November 2000     

Numerical investigation of droplet pre-dispersion in a monodisperse droplet spray dryer

Monodisperse droplet spray dryers have great advantages in particle formation through spray drying because of their ability to produce uniform sized particles. Experimental analyses of this system have shown that droplets atomized through the piezoceramic nozzle need to be sufficiently well dispersed before entering the drying chamber to achieve sufficiently dried particles. However, the dispersion dynamics cannot be readily observed because of experimental limitations, and key factors influencing the dispersion state currently remain unclear. This study carried out numerical simulations for droplet dispersions in the dispersion chamber, which allow this important process to be visualized. The systematic and quantitative analyses on the dispersion states provide valuable data for improving the design of the dispersion chamber, and optimizing the spray drying operation.