Experimental studies of droplet formation process and length for liquid–liquid two-phase flows in a microchannel

Abstract

In this study, changes in the droplet formation mechanism and the law of droplet length in a two-phase liquid–liquid system in 400 × 400 µm standard T-junction microchannels were experimentally studied using a high-speed camera. The study investigated the effects of various dispersed phase viscosities, various continuous phase viscosities, and two-phase flow parameters on droplet length. Two basic flow patterns were observed: slug flow dominated by the squeezing mechanism, and droplet flow dominated by the shear mechanism. The dispersed phase viscosity had almost no effect on droplet length. However, the droplet length decreased with increasing continuous phase viscosity, increasing volume flow rate in the continuous phase, and the continuous-phase capillary number Cac. Droplet length also increased with increasing volume flow rate in the dispersed phase and with the volume flow rate ratio. Based on the droplet formation mechanism, a scaling law governing slug and droplet length was proposed and achieved a good fit with experimental data.