Investigation of mixing efficiency and pressure drop in T-shaped micromixers

• Published in: Chemical engineering and processing 2018-12, Vol.134, p.105-114
• Main Authors: Lobasov, A.S., Minakov, A.V., Kuznetsov, V.V., Rudyak, V.Ya, Shebeleva, A.A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: CFD; Engulfment regime; Hydrodynamics; Microagitator; Microreactor; Mixing; Numerical simulation; Pressure drop; T-shaped micromixer; Width–to–height aspect ratio
• ISSN: 0255-2701; 1873-3204
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cep.2018.10.012

[Display omitted] •The flow regimes and pressure drop in T-mixers were analyzed.•The dependence of mixing efficiency on the width-to-height ratio of channel was studied.•The dependence of pressure drop on the width-to-height ratio of channel was studied.•The new correlation to determine the critical Reynolds number was proposed.•The optimal modes of the T-shaped micromixer were determined. The numerical investigation of the flow regimes in the T-shaped microchannels with different width-to-height aspect ratios of mixing channel was carried out. In the first case, the mixing channel width was varied from 200 μm to 1000 μm while its height was constant; in the second case, the mixing channel height was varied from 100 μm to 2000 μm, while its width was constant. The Reynolds number was varied from 5 to 700. The dependences of fluids mixing efficiency and the pressure drop on the Reynolds number at different width-to-height aspect ratios of mixing channel were numerically established. The correlations to determine the critical Reynolds number, as well as the friction factor at different widths and heights of the mixing channel, were proposed. The mixing efficiency, reduced to the pressure drop and the volume unit was analyzed for the first time. The optimal range of parameters in terms of the working efficiency of the micromixer was determined.