Mixing characteristics of T-type microfluidic mixers

Computational fluid dynamics simulations are used to study the mixing chara cteristics of a microscale mixer for gaseous flow as a function of various operating and design parameters. The device is based on a T configuration a nd gases of different viscosities are employed. Simulations show that the m ixing length increases with the fluid speed and is also influenced by the m ixer aspect ratio. Altering the angle between the inlet channels does not s ignificantly affect the mixing performance, whilst throttling the fluid con siderably decreases the mixing length. The results are compared with Fourie r number predictions and it is demonstrated that these can provide useful l imits for a preliminary design.