Numerical Study of the Controlled Droplet Breakup by Static Electric Fields inside a Microfluidic Flow-focusing Device

Y. Li[1], K. Nandakumar[1], M. Jain[1]
[1]Louisiana State Univeristy, Baton Rouge, LA, USA
Published in 2013

Conventional passive microfluidic flow-focusing devices confront difficulties in controlling droplet sizes in dripping regime especially when the dispersed phase has a large viscosity. It is reported that external electric field can be used to manipulate the droplet breakup. In the present study, a computational fluid dynamics based level-set method coupled with perfect dielectric model has been used to investigate the formation of viscous droplets inside water. The numerical simulations have shown that the electric field and electric properties play significant roles in droplet formation dynamics. The breakup process exhibits different behaviors when electric fields of various strengths are applied due to the interaction of hydrodynamics and electrodynamics.