Mixing Optimization in Grooved Serpentine Microchannels

• Published in: Micromachines (Basel) Vol. 11; no. 1; p. 61
• Main Authors: Rhoades, Tyler, Kothapalli, Chandrasekhar R, Fodor, Petru S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 04.01.2020; MDPI
• Subjects: Centrifugal force; Computational fluid dynamics; dean flows and mixers; Fluid flow; Geometry; Grooves; Helical flow; Microchannels; Mixers; mixing index; Optimization; passive micromixers; Radius of curvature; Reynolds number; Saddle points; Serpentine; serpentine channels; staggered herring bone (shb) mixers; Topology; Viscosity; Vortices; mixing index; Dean flows and mixers; passive micromixers; serpentine channels; staggered herring bone (SHB) mixers
• ISSN: 2072-666X; 2072-666X
• DOI: 10.3390/mi11010061

Computational fluid dynamics modeling at Reynolds numbers ranging from 10 to 100 was used to characterize the performance of a new type of micromixer employing a serpentine channel with a grooved surface. The new topology exploits the overlap between the typical Dean flows present in curved channels due to the centrifugal forces experienced by the fluids, and the helical flows induced by slanted groove-ridge patterns with respect to the direction of the flow. The resulting flows are complex, with multiple vortices and saddle points, leading to enhanced mixing across the section of the channel. The optimization of the mixers with respect to the inner radius of curvature ( ) of the serpentine channel identifies the designs in which the mixing index quality is both high ( > 0.95) and independent of the Reynolds number across all the values investigated.