Numerical investigation of particle separation in Y-shaped bifurcating microchannels--颗粒学报PARTICUOLOGY

Meyari, M., Salehi, Z., Zarghami, R., & Saeedipour, M. (2021). Numerical investigation of particle separation in Y-shaped bifurcating microchannels. Particuology, 56, 142-151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.partic.2020.10.003

Numerical investigation of particle separation in Y-shaped bifurcating microchannels

Mahya Meyari ^a, Zeinab Salehi ^a, Reza Zarghami ^a *, Mahdi Saeedipour ^b

a School of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
b Department of Particulate Flow Modelling, Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria

10.1016/j.partic.2020.10.003

Volume 56, June 2021, Pages 142-151

Received 1 April 2020, Revised 31 August 2020, Accepted 1 October 2020, Available online 10 November 2020, Version of Record 8 March 2021.

E-mail: rzarghami@ut.ac.ir

Highlights

• The Zweifach-Fung effect is studied in a Y-shaped bifurcation using resolved CFD-DEM.

• Path selection of the rigid sphere(s) depends on both y- and z-positioning.

• Decreasing the feed Reynolds number amplifies the Zweifach-Fung effect.

• The Zweifach-Fung effect is enhanced by increasing the flow difference between branches.

• Decreasing the particle-to-particle distance diminishes the Zweifach-Fung effect.

Abstract

In this study the Zweifach-Fung effect is investigated in a Y-shaped bifurcation when the clearance between the rigid spherical particle and the walls is small compared to both channel’s and particle’s radii. Single- and two-particle systems are studied using resolved computational fluid dynamics coupled to discrete element method to obtain a two-dimensional map of the initially positioned particles that would enter each child branch. In all cases, the path selection of the sphere depends on its two-dimensional positioning far from the bifurcation region in the parent channel. Increasing the flow rate ratio or decreasing the Reynolds number intensifies the Zweifach-Fung bifurcation effect in a single-particle system. Similarly, in two-particle systems where non-contact particle–particle interaction is present, decreasing the particle-to-particle distance reduces the bifurcation effect, while changing the Reynolds number has the same influence as in the single-particle systems. The results provide insight for optimizing the flow characteristics in bifurcating microchannels to separate the suspended particles.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Zweifach-Fung effect; Bifurcation; CFD-DEM; MicrOfluidics; Particle separation

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