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Mechanics of liquid–liquid interfaces and mixing enhancement in microscale flows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 May 2010

STÉPHANE VERGUET ,
CHUANHUA DUAN ,
ALBERT LIAU ,
VEYSEL BERK ,
JAMIE H. D. CATE ,
ARUN MAJUMDAR  and
ANDREW J. SZERI
STÉPHANE VERGUET
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
CHUANHUA DUAN
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
ALBERT LIAU
Affiliation:
Biophysics Program, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
VEYSEL BERK
Affiliation:
California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
JAMIE H. D. CATE
Affiliation:
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA Physical Biosciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, CA 94720, USA
ARUN MAJUMDAR
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA Environmental Energy Technologies Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, CA 94720, USA
ANDREW J. SZERI*
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
*
†Email address for correspondence: andrew.szeri@berkeley.edu
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Abstract

Experimental work on mixing in microfluidic devices has been of growing importance in recent years. Interest in probing reaction kinetics faster than the minute or hour time scale has intensified research in designing microchannel devices that would allow the reactants to be mixed on a time scale faster than that of the reaction. Particular attention has been paid to the design of microchannels in order to enhance the advection phenomena in these devices. Ultimately, in vitro studies of biological reactions can now be performed in conditions that reflect their native intracellular environments. Liau et al. (Anal. Chem., vol. 77, 2005, p. 7618) have demonstrated a droplet-based microfluidic mixer that induces improved chaotic mixing of crowded solutions in milliseconds due to protrusions (‘bumps’) on the microchannel walls. Liau et al. (2005) have shown it to be possible to mix rapidly plugs of highly concentrated protein solutions such as bovine hemoglobin and bovine serum albumin. The present work concerns an analysis of the underlying mechanisms of shear stress transfer at liquid–liquid interfaces and associated enhanced mixing arising from the protrusions along the channel walls. The role of non-Newtonian rheology and surfactants is also considered within the mixing framework developed by Aref, Ottino and Wiggins in several publications. Specifically, we show that proportional thinning of the carrier fluid lubrication layer at the bumps leads to greater advection velocities within the plugs, which enhances mixing. When the fluid within the plugs is Newtonian, mixing will be enhanced by the bumps if they are sufficiently close to one another. Changing either the rheology of the fluid within the plugs (from Newtonian to non-Newtonian) or modifying the mechanics of the carrier fluid-plug interface (by populating it with insoluble surfactants) alters the mixing enhancement.

Type
Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 652 , 10 June 2010 , pp. 207 - 240
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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