TY  - JOUR
TI  - Water droplets translocation and fission in a 3D bi-planar multifurcated t-junction microchannels
ID  - scholars13183
IS  - 5
N2  - Droplet fission has gained notable interest in drug delivery applications due to its ability to perform parallel operations in single device. Hitherto, droplet flow behavior in a 3D constriction was scarcely investigated. This study aims to investigate droplets fission inside a 3D bi-planar multifurcated microfluidic device. The flow behavior and droplet size distribution were studied in trifurcated microchannels using distilled water as dispersed phase (1 mPas) and olive oil (68 mPas) as continuous phase. Various sizes of subordinate daughter droplets were manipulated passively through the modulation of flowrate ratio (Q) (0.15 < Q < 3.33). Overall, we found droplet size coefficient of variations (CV) ranging from 0.72 to 69. Highly monodispersed droplets were formed at the upstream T-junction (CV < 2) while the droplet fission process was unstable at higher flowrate ratio (Q > 0.4) as they travel downstream (1.5 < CV < 69) to splitting junctions. Complex responses to the non-monotonic behavior of mean droplet size was found at the downstream boundaries, which arose from the deformations under nonuniform flow condition. CFD was used as a tool to study the preliminary maximum velocity (Umax) profile for the symmetrical (0.01334 m/s < Umax < 0.0153 m/s) and asymmetrical branched channels (0.0223 m/s< Umax < 0.00438 m/s), thus complementing the experimental model studies. © 2020 by the authors.
N1  - cited By 4
AV  - none
VL  - 8
UR  - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85085495903&doi=10.3390%2fPR8050510&partnerID=40&md5=3278923d7f87ab53f81ab285b6b9a7e0
JF  - Processes
A1  - Lu, I.-L.
A1  - Wong, V.-L.
A1  - Chin, J.-K.
A1  - Kushaari, K.
SN  - 22279717
PB  - MDPI AG
Y1  - 2020///
ER  -