Application of a mapping method for mixing analysis of micromixers

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Under typical operating conditions, flows in microfluidic devices are laminar and molecular diffusion across the channels is slow, which makes an efficient mixing in microfluidic devices difficult to achieve. The mechanism to achieve effective mixing in laminar flows is that of repetitive stretching and folding. Essential is to generate spatially periodic flows with crossing cross sectional streamlines. A mapping method is employed to analyze mixing in micromixers, enabling us to investigate the progress of mixing both qualitatively and quantitatively. The progress of mixing is characterized by a measure of mixing, called the discrete intensity of segregation. The mapping method is applied to mixing in such micromixers as the staggered herringbone mixer, the barrier embedded micromixer, and the three-dimensional serpentine channel to demonstrate the capability of the numerical scheme to tackle general mixing problems in microfluidic devices.