Optimizing passive micromixers: Enhancing mixing efficiency through computational fluid dynamics and metaheuristic algorithms

Abstract This paper examines the optimization of micromixers, highlighting their essential role in improving the efficiency of chemical reactions and fluid mixing at a micro‐scale, and using metaheuristic algorithms for a novel passive micromixer featuring bends and twists with offsets. The twists and bends cause constant changes in the direction of liquid flow, leading to chaotic advection that enhances species mixing while minimizing pressure loss. Although increasing channel length generally improves mixing performance, the proposed design's performance was higher than the reference channel for Reynolds numbers (Re) greater than 100. Key findings include achieving an excellent mixing performance of 87.76% at a Reynolds number of 400, with a bend angle of 60° and a twist factor of 4. The Harris hawk optimization (HHO) algorithm proved the most effective for optimizing microfluidic channel designs. This approach offers significant advantages for cost‐effectively optimizing microfluidic channel designs.