Lattice Boltzmann simulations of thermocapillary motion of droplets in microfluidic channels

Jonathan Li; Haihu Liu; Nikolaos Ioannou; Yonghao Zhang; Jason M. Reese

doi:10.4208/cicp.2014.m344

Lattice Boltzmann simulations of thermocapillary motion of droplets in microfluidic channels

Jonathan Li, Haihu Liu^*, Nikolaos Ioannou, Yonghao Zhang, Jason M. Reese

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Our recently developed lattice Boltzmann model is used to simulate droplet dynamical behaviour governed by thermocapillary force in microchannels. One key research challenge for developing droplet-based microfluidic systems is control of droplet motion and its dynamic behaviour. We numerically demonstrate that the thermocapillary force can be exploited for microdroplet manipulations including synchronisation, sorting, and splitting. This work indicates that the lattice Boltzmann method provides a promising design simulation tool for developing complex droplet-based microfluidic devices.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1113-1126
Number of pages	14
Journal	Communications in computational physics
Volume	17
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.4208/cicp.2014.m344
Publication status	Published - 3 Jun 2015

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

Lattice Boltzmann method
thermocapillary force
droplet manipulation
microfluidics
digital microfluidics
BGK model
fluid dynamics

Access to Document

10.4208/cicp.2014.m344

LiEtAlCommComputPhys2015Accepted author manuscript, 318 KB

The First Open-Source Software for Non-Continuum Flows in Engineering
Reese, J. (Principal Investigator) & Borg, M. (Researcher)
EPSRC
1/10/13 → 31/03/18
Project: Research
Non-Equilibrium Fluid Dynamics for Micro/Nano Engineering Systems
Reese, J. (Principal Investigator), Lockerby, D. A. (Co-investigator), Emerson, D. R. (Co-investigator) & Borg, M. (Researcher)
1/01/11 → 16/02/16
Project: Project from a former institution

Cite this

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title = "Lattice Boltzmann simulations of thermocapillary motion of droplets in microfluidic channels",

abstract = "Our recently developed lattice Boltzmann model is used to simulate droplet dynamical behaviour governed by thermocapillary force in microchannels. One key research challenge for developing droplet-based microfluidic systems is control of droplet motion and its dynamic behaviour. We numerically demonstrate that the thermocapillary force can be exploited for microdroplet manipulations including synchronisation, sorting, and splitting. This work indicates that the lattice Boltzmann method provides a promising design simulation tool for developing complex droplet-based microfluidic devices.",

keywords = "Lattice Boltzmann method, thermocapillary force, droplet manipulation, microfluidics, digital microfluidics, BGK model, fluid dynamics",

author = "Jonathan Li and Haihu Liu and Nikolaos Ioannou and Yonghao Zhang and Reese, {Jason M.}",

year = "2015",

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doi = "10.4208/cicp.2014.m344",

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T1 - Lattice Boltzmann simulations of thermocapillary motion of droplets in microfluidic channels

AU - Li, Jonathan

AU - Liu, Haihu

AU - Ioannou, Nikolaos

AU - Zhang, Yonghao

AU - Reese, Jason M.

PY - 2015/6/3

Y1 - 2015/6/3

N2 - Our recently developed lattice Boltzmann model is used to simulate droplet dynamical behaviour governed by thermocapillary force in microchannels. One key research challenge for developing droplet-based microfluidic systems is control of droplet motion and its dynamic behaviour. We numerically demonstrate that the thermocapillary force can be exploited for microdroplet manipulations including synchronisation, sorting, and splitting. This work indicates that the lattice Boltzmann method provides a promising design simulation tool for developing complex droplet-based microfluidic devices.

AB - Our recently developed lattice Boltzmann model is used to simulate droplet dynamical behaviour governed by thermocapillary force in microchannels. One key research challenge for developing droplet-based microfluidic systems is control of droplet motion and its dynamic behaviour. We numerically demonstrate that the thermocapillary force can be exploited for microdroplet manipulations including synchronisation, sorting, and splitting. This work indicates that the lattice Boltzmann method provides a promising design simulation tool for developing complex droplet-based microfluidic devices.

KW - Lattice Boltzmann method

KW - thermocapillary force

KW - droplet manipulation

KW - microfluidics

KW - digital microfluidics

KW - BGK model

KW - fluid dynamics

U2 - 10.4208/cicp.2014.m344

DO - 10.4208/cicp.2014.m344

M3 - Article

SN - 1815-2406

VL - 17

SP - 1113

EP - 1126

JO - Communications in computational physics

JF - Communications in computational physics

IS - 5

ER -

Lattice Boltzmann simulations of thermocapillary motion of droplets in microfluidic channels

Abstract

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

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Projects

The First Open-Source Software for Non-Continuum Flows in Engineering

Non-Equilibrium Fluid Dynamics for Micro/Nano Engineering Systems

Cite this