High mixing efficiency by modulating inlet frequency of viscoelastic fluid in simplified pore structure

• Main Authors: Zhang, Meng, Cui, Yunfeng, Cai, Weihua, Wu, Zhengwei, Li, Yongyao, Li, Fengchen, Zhang, Wu
• Other Authors: School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: Mixer; Viscoelastic Fluid; DRNTU::Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/107473; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/47427; http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pr6110210
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Fluid mixing plays an essential role in microscale flow systems. Here, we propose an active mixing approach which enhances the mixing of viscoelastic fluid flow in a simplified pore T-junction structure. Mixing is actively controlled by modulating the driving pressure with a sinusoidal signal at the two inlets of the T-junction. The mixing effect is numerically investigated for both Newtonian and viscoelastic fluid flows under different pressure modulation conditions. The result shows that a degree of mixing as high as 0.9 is achieved in viscoelastic fluid flows through the T-junction mixer when the phase difference between the modulated pressures at the two inlets is 180°. This modulation method can also be used in other fluid mixing devices.