Comparison between numerical and experimental water-in-oil dispersion in a microchannel

Abstract

[EN] The dispersion of water inside a flow of oil is investigated in a microfluidic device, producing a water-in-oil emulsion. The liquid–liquid flow mainly differs from those presented in existing literature through its high capillary number (between 3 and 14), and in the head-on collision between water and oil streams. By comparing with experimental data, numerical simulations can provide more information about the topology of the flow. A coupled Volume of Fluid and Level Set method (CLSVOF) is used to treat the interface between both phases and incompressible Navier-Stokes equations are solved. Three set of parameters, close to those in the experimental setup, are investigated to compare experimental and numerical results. The comparison between experiments and simulation provides a precise knowledge of the liquid-liquid dispersion process and the overall flow pattern within the microfluidic device.