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PUBLICATIONS

Analysis of the Mechanism for Chaotic Mixing in Oscillatory Flow Microfluidic Devices

Published

Author(s)

Frederick R. Phelan Jr., N R. Hughes, Jai A. Pathak

Abstract

Flow in a cross channel mixer has been explored as a model system for mixing fluids in microfluidic devices using oscillatory flow boundary conditions, via numerical simulation of the unsteady Navier-Stokes equations. Calculations for purely oscillatory motion show that chaotic flow can be achieved in which Lagrangian particles orbit on an attractor whose size and characteristics are determined by a Strouhal number. The flow generated in the device by this means shows two characteristics of chaos: a positive effective Lyapunov exponent and stretching and folding of materials lines leading to dispersion.
Citation
Physical Review Letters
Pub Type
Journals

Keywords

chaos, finite element method, lyapunov exponent, microfluidics, mixing, ocillatory flow

Citation

Phelan Jr., F. , Hughes, N. and Pathak, J. (2021), Analysis of the Mechanism for Chaotic Mixing in Oscillatory Flow Microfluidic Devices, Physical Review Letters (Accessed October 25, 2025)

Issues

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Created October 12, 2021
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