Pressure drop in micro T-mixers

Results are presented from a numerical study examining the pressure drop of the liquid phase inside micro T-mixers at moderate Reynolds numbers. The effects on the pressure gradient of changes to design and operating parameters such as the aspect ratio of the mixing channel and the volume flow rate are studied. To understand the influence of geometrical parameters on flow resistance and the mixing zone, a wide range of dimensions of micro T-mixers is studied. A broad range of Reynolds numbers is investigated so that the flow is either in the vortex or in the engulfment regimes. Explicit equations are proposed to predict the friction factor for both vortex and engulfment flow regimes inside T-mixers. In addition, a model is proposed to determine the mixing zone in micro T-mixers. A set of experiments were carried out to support the simulation results. The model results were found to be consistent with the experimental findings.