Droplet Formation at Microfluidic T-junctions

Analysis of droplet formation in microfluidic systems is important to understand the operation of these devices, and to permit optimal design and process control. Droplet formation in microfluidic T-junction devices was studied using experimental and numerical methods. The simulations agree well with experimental data from PDMS devices; they show that droplet pinch-off is controlled not by viscous stress, but rather caused by pressure buildup after channel blocking due to the second phase. The period of droplet formation is dependent on velocity of the flow, but not viscosity or interface tension of the fluids. Analysis using dimensionless period, which is equivalent to dimensionless droplet length, shows that dimensionless period is controlled primarily by water fraction but is also dependent on velocity following a power-law relationship. Higher values of capillary number tend to extend the distance for droplet pinch-off. Droplet length does depend on flow velocity at low velocities, but reaches a relatively constant length at higher flow velocities. The coefficient of variation of droplet volume/length increases with increasing capillary number