Sessoms DA, Belloul M, Engl W, Roche M, Courbin L, Panizza P. Droplet motion in microfluidic networks: Hydrodynamic interactions and pressure-drop measurements.
Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys 2009;
80:016317. [PMID:
19658816 DOI:
10.1103/physreve.80.016317]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2009] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
We present experimental, numerical, and theoretical studies of droplet flows in hydrodynamic networks. Using both millifluidic and microfluidic devices, we study the partitioning of monodisperse droplets in an asymmetric loop. In both cases, we show that droplet traffic results from the hydrodynamic feedback due to the presence of droplets in the outlet channels. We develop a recently-introduced phenomenological model [W. Engl, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 208304 (2005)] and successfully confront its predictions to our experimental results. This approach offers a simple way to measure the excess hydrodynamic resistance of a channel filled with droplets. We discuss the traffic behavior and the variations in the corresponding hydrodynamic resistance length L_{d} and of the droplet mobility beta , as a function of droplet interdistance and confinement for channels having circular or rectangular cross sections.
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