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Characterization of the Mixing Quality in Micromixers
Author(s) -
Aubin J.,
Fletcher D.F.,
Bertrand J.,
Xuereb C.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
chemical engineering and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.403
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1521-4125
pISSN - 0930-7516
DOI - 10.1002/ceat.200301848
Subject(s) - micromixer , micromixing , laminar flow , mixing (physics) , mechanics , diagonal , materials science , agitator , vortex , dispersion (optics) , computational fluid dynamics , tracer , flow (mathematics) , residence time distribution , channel (broadcasting) , microfluidics , optics , physics , nanotechnology , geometry , mathematics , computer science , impeller , telecommunications , quantum mechanics , nuclear physics
The laminar flow patterns and mixing performance of two different micromixers have been investigated and quantified using CFD. The micromixer geometries consist of a channel with either diagonal or asymmetric herringbone grooves on the channel floor. The numerical results show that a single helical flow is produced for the diagonal mixer, whereas the herringbone mixer creates a double helical flow, composed of an alternating large and small vortex. Particle tracking of a tracer shows that very little convective mixing occurs in the diagonal mixer. However, in the herringbone mixer, very good mixing occurs. Quantitative analysis methods that are traditionally used for characterizing macro‐scale static mixers have been employed. Calculation of the variance of tracer dispersion and the stretching has shown to be well adapted for quantifying the mixing in the micromixers. However, methods based on the deformation rate appear to be less suitable. The results are in excellent agreement with previous experimental findings.

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