SCI和EI收录∣中国化工学会会刊

Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering ›› 2013, Vol. 21 ›› Issue (5): 463-472.DOI: 10.1016/S1004-9541(13)60523-6

• 流体力学与传递现象 •    下一篇

Transport of Wetting and Nonwetting Liquid Plugs in a T-shaped Microchannel

雍玉梅1, 李莎1, 杨超1, 尹小龙2   

  1. 1 Key Laboratory of Green Process and Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China;
    2 Petroleum Engineering Department, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80402, USA
  • 收稿日期:2011-10-12 修回日期:2012-04-25 出版日期:2013-05-28 发布日期:2013-05-31
  • 通讯作者: YANG Chao
  • 基金资助:

    Supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (2012CB224806), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (20990224, 21276256), the National Natural Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (21025627) and the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (2012AA03A606).

Transport of Wetting and Nonwetting Liquid Plugs in a T-shaped Microchannel

YONG Yumei1, LI Sha1, YANG Chao1, YIN Xiaolong2   

  1. 1 Key Laboratory of Green Process and Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China;
    2 Petroleum Engineering Department, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80402, USA
  • Received:2011-10-12 Revised:2012-04-25 Online:2013-05-28 Published:2013-05-31
  • Supported by:

    Supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (2012CB224806), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (20990224, 21276256), the National Natural Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (21025627) and the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (2012AA03A606).

摘要: The transport of liquid plugs in microchannels is very important for many applications such as in medical treatments in airways and in extraction of oil from porous rocks. A plug of wetting and non-wetting liquids driven by a constant pressure difference through a T-shaped microchannel is studied numerically with lattice Boltzmann (LB) method. A two-phase flow LB model based on field mediators is built. Three typical flow patterns (blocking, rupture and splitting flow) of plug flow are obtained with different driving pressures. It is found that it becomes difficult for a plug with short initial plug length to leave the microchannel; the flow pattern of plug transport varies with the contact angle, especially from wetting to nonwetting; with the increase of interfacial tension, the front interface of plug moves faster; the front and rear interfaces of the plug with small viscosity ratio move faster in the microchannel than those of the plug with large viscosity ratio. The study is helpful to provide theoretical data for the design and scale-up of liquid-liquid reactors and separators.

关键词: lattice Boltzmann method, plug flow, contact angle, interfacial tension, microchannel

Abstract: The transport of liquid plugs in microchannels is very important for many applications such as in medical treatments in airways and in extraction of oil from porous rocks. A plug of wetting and non-wetting liquids driven by a constant pressure difference through a T-shaped microchannel is studied numerically with lattice Boltzmann (LB) method. A two-phase flow LB model based on field mediators is built. Three typical flow patterns (blocking, rupture and splitting flow) of plug flow are obtained with different driving pressures. It is found that it becomes difficult for a plug with short initial plug length to leave the microchannel; the flow pattern of plug transport varies with the contact angle, especially from wetting to nonwetting; with the increase of interfacial tension, the front interface of plug moves faster; the front and rear interfaces of the plug with small viscosity ratio move faster in the microchannel than those of the plug with large viscosity ratio. The study is helpful to provide theoretical data for the design and scale-up of liquid-liquid reactors and separators.

Key words: lattice Boltzmann method, plug flow, contact angle, interfacial tension, microchannel