Numerical study of laminar flow in pillared-micro channel

Numerical simulation has been conducted to analyze the fluid flow profile as well as the mixing index of laminar flow in three different shapes of pillared microchannel such as triangular prism pillar microchannel (TPP), rectangular pillar microchannel (RP), and circular pillar microchannel (CP). The ratio of the pillar to the channel's width was 1: 2. The channel was a square duct with a length of 100μm and total length of micromixer is 1900μm. The main objective of the simulation is to study the effect of pillars in microchannel towards fluid flow profiles when passing through the obstacles and on mixing performance. The analysis results show that triangular prism pillar microchannel and rectangular pillar microchannel present better mixing performance along with the increment of Reynolds number. Circular pillar microchannel does not perform accordingly to Reynolds number in the range of 10 < Re < 110. After the value of Reynolds number is above 110, circular pillar microchannel performances aligned with Reynolds number. This numerical study would give a better understanding in designing a passive micromixer model involving pillared microchannel.