We explore the dynamics of droplet propagation and subsequent disintegration in a symmetric bifurcating Y-microchannel by varying the wettability characteristics of one of the daughter channels while maintaining the wettability of the other constant. The temporal evolution of the droplet is numerically investigated using the phase-field method. Based on the neck-width evolution, the droplet bifurcation phenomenon has been divided into three separate stages, namely, squeezing, transition, and pinch-off. During the squeezing stage, the rate of change of neck width increases as the wettability angle decreases, while an opposite trend is observed at the pinch-off stage, leading to almost identical breakup time for the droplet regardless of the wettability angle. We identify pertinent regimes of droplet breakup, such as symmetric breakup, asymmetric breakup, no-breakup upper channel, no-breakup lower channel, and spreading regime, over wide ranges of capillary numbers (Ca) and viscosity ratio ( ). Our study indicates that an increase in the relative influence of viscous force (high Ca) reduces the droplet's wettability effect. The same pattern is obtained when the viscosity of the droplet is increased in relation to the viscosity of the carrier fluid. In contrast, for low Ca flows, the relatively strong interfacial tension favors the wettability characteristics of the surface, resulting in a dominance of non-breakup regimes. The regime plots proposed in this paper depict the roles of Ca and on various breakup regimes in detail. Such regime diagrams may emerge as fundamental design basis of microfluidic devices in diverse applications, such as biopharmaceuticals, microreactors, and food processing.
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February 2024
Research Article|
February 16 2024
Surface wettability-induced modulations of droplet breakup in a bifurcated microchannel
Special Collection:
Microscopic Channel Flows
Satya Prakash Pandey
;
Satya Prakash Pandey
(Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Validation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing)
1
Department of Aerospace Engineering and Applied Mechanics, Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology Shibpur
, Howrah 711103, India
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Sandip Sarkar
;
Sandip Sarkar
(Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Resources, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing)
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jadavpur University
, Kolkata 700032, India
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Debashis Pal
Debashis Pal
a)
(Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing)
1
Department of Aerospace Engineering and Applied Mechanics, Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology Shibpur
, Howrah 711103, India
a)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: [email protected]
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a)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: [email protected]
Physics of Fluids 36, 022010 (2024)
Article history
Received:
October 31 2023
Accepted:
January 17 2024
Citation
Satya Prakash Pandey, Sandip Sarkar, Debashis Pal; Surface wettability-induced modulations of droplet breakup in a bifurcated microchannel. Physics of Fluids 1 February 2024; 36 (2): 022010. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0185582
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Alan Jeffrey Giacomin
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Chinese Academy of Science Journal Ranking System (2015–2023)
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