Swirl Flow-Focusing: a new way for the generation of Microbubbles
ORAL
Abstract
A volume of fluid (VOF) numerical method is used to predict the dynamics of bubble formation in an axisymmetric flow-focusing microfluidic device. Our numerical results for several gas- liquid configurations show that in all cases analyzed, the introduction of co-axial swirl in the focusing liquid fosters the stabilization of the gas-liquid meniscus promoting tapered geometries. Consequently, the use of swirl leads to a dramatic reduction of the size of the bubbles generated by the flow focusing device. Preliminary experiments support our numerical findings.
–