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research article

Boundary elements method for microfluidic two-phase flows in shallow channels

Nagel, Mathias  
•
Gallaire, François  
2015
Computers & Fluids

In the following work we apply the boundary element method to two-phase flows in shallow microchannels, where one phase is dispersed and does not wet the channel walls. These kinds of flows are often encountered in microfluidic Lab-On-A-Chip devices and characterized by low Reynolds and low capillary numbers. Assuming that these channels are homogeneous in height and have a large aspect ratio, we use depth-averaged equations to describe these two-phase flows using the Brinkman equation, which constitutes a refinement of Darcy’s law. These partial differential equations are discretized and solved numerically using the boundary element method, where a stabilization scheme is applied to the surface tension terms, allowing for a less restrictive time step at low capillary numbers. The convergence of the numerical algorithm is checked against a static analytical solution and on a dynamic test case. Finally the algorithm is applied to the non-linear development of the Saffman–Taylor instability and compared to experimental studies of droplet deformation in expanding flows.

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Type
research article
DOI
10.1016/j.compfluid.2014.10.016
Web of Science ID

WOS:000348746400021

Author(s)
Nagel, Mathias  
Gallaire, François  
Date Issued

2015

Publisher

Elsevier

Published in
Computers & Fluids
Volume

107

Start page

272

End page

284

Subjects

Microhydrodynamics

•

Lab On A Chip

•

Droplets

•

Free interface

•

Interface stabilization

•

Gauss block elimination

Note

In hope to encourage research and collaboration in this field we provide an open-source version of our numerical code for free distribution and modification on the website http://lfmi.epfl.ch/ulambator

URL

URL

http://lfmi.epfl.ch/ulambator
Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
LFMI  
Available on Infoscience
December 8, 2014
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/109254
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