Deformation and breakup dynamics of droplets within a tapered channel

Abstract

In this paper, we numerically investigate the breakup dynamics of droplets in an emulsion flowing in a tapered microchannel with a narrow constriction. The mesoscale approach for multicomponent fluids with near contact interactions is shown to capture the deformation and breakup dynamics of droplets interacting within the constriction, in agreement with experimental evidence. In addition, it permits us to investigate in detail the hydrodynamic phenomena occurring during breakup stages. Finally, a suitable deformation parameter is introduced and analyzed to characterize the state of deformation of the system by inspecting pairs of interacting droplets flowing in the narrow channel.