2014 Volume 28 Issue 1 Pages 32-38
For developing a novel micro-fabrication process of flexible and large-area thin-film display MEMS device, liquid-liquid two-phase slug droplets formation in T-junction microchannel with square cross section is investigated through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation by using a diffuse-interface tracking method based on lattice-Boltzmann model numerical solution scheme plus conservation-modified Allen-Cahn advection equation. The volumetric flow rate ratio is fixed at 1.0 within the range of low capillary, Reynolds and Weber numbers for silicone oil-water system with hydraulic diameter of 100 μm, kinematic viscosity of 1.0 cSt. and interfacial tension of 41.6 mN/m. The major findings are as follows: (1) the continuous and dispersed-phase slugs become shorter at nearly-constant length difference between them as their flow rates are increased; (2) their lengths in the simulation agree well with experimental data; (3) the dispersed-phase volume fraction are well predicted in comparison with experimental and one-dimensional two-fluid model CFD simulation results.
