Rheological effects on coalescence and break-up in liquid/liquid flows in a micro device

The overall objective of the project is to characterize the flow and rheological properties of fluids and fluid mixtures, such as liquid/liquid dispersions and liquids that contain small particles. In particular in studying coalescence and break-up of droplets in a liquid/liquid mixture flow. Conventionally, the study of the flow of liquid/liquid dispersions is studied on a macroscopic level, for example the phase-inversion process and associated large fluctuations in pressure drop during phase inversion.^[1],[2]However, it is known that coalescence and break-up are processes that are determined by small scales.^[3] This project is focused on these processes and measure relevant flow properties at the scale of the droplets and the interface (1-100 micron).

[1] Piela et al. “Experimental investigation of phase inversion in an oil-water flow through a horizontal pipe loop” Int. J. Multiphase Flow 32 (2006) 1087-1099.
[2] Piela et al. “On the phase inversion process in an oil-water pipe flow” Int. J. Multiphase Flow 34 (2008) 665-677.
[3] Oldenziel et al. “Measurements of liquid film thickness for a droplet at a two-fluid interface” Phys. Fluids 24 (2012) 022106

Chair:
Fluid Mechanics

People involved:
prof. dr. ir. J. Westerweel
dr. D. S. W. Tam
ir. A. Kislaya
dr. Teng Dong