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Lattice Boltzmann Simulations of Thermocapillary Motion of Droplets in Microfluidic Channels

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2015

Jonathan Li ,
Haihu Liu ,
Nikolaos Ioannou ,
Yonghao Zhang  and
Jason M. Reese
Jonathan Li
Affiliation:
James Weir Fluids Laboratory, Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, G1 1XJ, United Kingdom
Haihu Liu*
Affiliation:
James Weir Fluids Laboratory, Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, G1 1XJ, United Kingdom School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University; 28 West Xianning Road, Xi’an 710049, China
Nikolaos Ioannou
Affiliation:
James Weir Fluids Laboratory, Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, G1 1XJ, United Kingdom
Yonghao Zhang
Affiliation:
James Weir Fluids Laboratory, Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, G1 1XJ, United Kingdom
Jason M. Reese
Affiliation:
School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3JT, United Kingdom
*
*Corresponding author. Email addresses: haihu.liu@mail.xjtu.edu.cn (H. Liu), jonathan.li@strath.ac.uk (J. Li), nikolaos.ioannou@strath.ac.uk (N. Ioannou), yonghao.zhang@strath.ac.uk (Y. Zhang), jason.reese@ed.ac.uk (J. M. Reese)
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Abstract

Our recently developed lattice Boltzmann model is used to simulate droplet dynamical behaviour governed by thermocapillary force in microchannels. One key research challenge for developing droplet-based microfluidic systems is control of droplet motion and its dynamic behaviour. We numerically demonstrate that the thermocapillary force can be exploited for microdroplet manipulations including synchronisation, sorting, and splitting. This work indicates that the lattice Boltzmann method provides a promising design simulation tool for developing complex droplet-based microfluidic devices.

Keywords

76T99Lattice Boltzmann methodthermocapillary forcedroplet manipulationmicrofluidics
Type
Research Article
Information
Communications in Computational Physics , Volume 17 , Issue 5 , May 2015 , pp. 1113 - 1126
Copyright
Copyright © Global-Science Press 2015 

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