Drying in a microfluidic chip: experiments and simulations

Fantinel, P, Borgman, O, Holtzman, R and Goehring, L ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3858-7295, 2017. Drying in a microfluidic chip: experiments and simulations. Scientific Reports, 7 (1), p. 15572. ISSN 2045-2322

Preview

Text PubSub9500_Goehring.pdf - Published version Download (3MB) | Preview

Abstract

We present an experimental micro-model of drying porous media, based on microfluidic cells made of arrays of pillars on a regular grid, and complement these experiments with a matching two-dimensional pore-network model of drying. Disorder, or small-scale heterogeneity, was introduced into the cells by randomly varying the radii of the pillars. The microfluidic chips were filled with a volatile oil and then dried horizontally, such that gravitational effects were excluded. The experimental and simulated drying rates and patterns were then compared in detail, for various levels of disorder. The geometrical features were reproduced well, although the model under-predicted the formation of trapped clusters of drying fluid. Reproducing drying rates proved to be more challenging, but improved if the additional trapped clusters were added to the model. The methods reported can be adapted to a wide range of multi-phase flow problems, and allow for the rapid development of high-precision micro-models containing tens of thousands of individual elements.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Scientific Reports
Creators:	Fantinel, P., Borgman, O., Holtzman, R. and Goehring, L.
Publisher:	Nature Publishing Group
Date:	2017
Volume:	7
Number:	1
ISSN:	2045-2322
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1038/s41598-017-15718-6 DOI 15718 Publisher Item Identifier
Divisions:	Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by:	Linda Sullivan
Date Added:	15 Nov 2017 11:47
Last Modified:	15 Nov 2017 11:47
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/32027

Actions (login required)

Edit View

Statistics

Views

Downloads