A Numerical Simulation on Mixing Enhancement by Inlet Flow Pulsation in a Micro Conduit

마이크로 유로에서 맥동유동에 의한 혼합촉진에 관한 수치해석

A numerical study has been conducted to investigate the effect of an inlet flow pulsation on mixing of two solutions with different concentrations in a micro conduit. We treat an unsteady, incompressible and two-dimensional flow through a micro conduit by adopting the momentum equations with the electrostatic force due to streaming current and the concentration equation. The feasibility of the inlet flow pulsation to enhance the mixing process inside the micro conduit is carefully examined by varying the inlet pulsation frequency. When a low-frequency pulsation is induced at the inlet, the interface between two solutions with different concentrations becomes wavy, which results in mixing enhancement. As the pulsation frequency increases, the waviness of the interface becomes meager, and the concentration gradients at the interface approach the value for the non-pulsating steady flow.