NUMERICAL STUDY OF FLUID MIXING IN A MICROCHANNEL WITH A CIRCULAR CHAMBER ON A ROTATING DISK

This paper reports numerical simulations of fluid mixing in a rotating microchannel with a microchamber fabricated on a CD-like substrate. The sample fluids are driven by the centrifugal force and brought in contact at a Y-shaped junction, and then the mixing flow moves through a straight channel with a circular chamber where the main course of mixing takes place. The CD-like micromixer is rotated clockwise at speeds ranging from 300 to 1200 rpm. With increasing rotational speed, the mixing efficiency is found dropping in the lower range (<= 540 rpm), where the diffusion still dominates the mixing, and then grows progressively to reach as much as 90%. The progressively growth in the higher speed range significantly improves the slightly descending and flat distribution for a straight mixing channel without a circular chamber. This significant enhancement of mixing is due mainly to the vortices generated in the circular chamber and the strong transverse flow induced by the Coriolis force.