%0 Journal Article %1 citeulike:4544906 %A Humphry, Katherine J. %A Ajdari, Armand %A Nieves, Alberto F. %A Stone, Howard A. %A Weitz, David A. %D 2009 %I APS %J Physical Review E (Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics) %K confined-flow, drops, flow-instability, jets, microchannel-flow, multiphase-flow, solubility %N 5 %P 056310+ %R 10.1103/PhysRevE.79.056310 %T Suppression of instabilities in multiphase flow by geometric confinement %U http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.79.056310 %V 79 %X We investigate the effect of confinement on drop formation in microfluidic devices. The presence or absence of drop formation is studied for two immiscible coflowing liquids in a microfluidic channel, where the channel width is considerably larger than the channel height. We show that stability of the inner fluid thread depends on the channel geometry: when the width of the inner fluid is comparable to or larger than the channel height, hydrodynamic instabilities are suppressed, and a stable jet that does not break into drops results; otherwise, the inner fluid breaks into drops, in either a dripping or jetting regime. We present a model that accounts for the data and experimentally exploit this effect of geometric confinement to induce the breakup of a jet at a spatially defined location.

@article{citeulike:4544906, abstract = {We investigate the effect of confinement on drop formation in microfluidic devices. The presence or absence of drop formation is studied for two immiscible coflowing liquids in a microfluidic channel, where the channel width is considerably larger than the channel height. We show that stability of the inner fluid thread depends on the channel geometry: when the width of the inner fluid is comparable to or larger than the channel height, hydrodynamic instabilities are suppressed, and a stable jet that does not break into drops results; otherwise, the inner fluid breaks into drops, in either a dripping or jetting regime. We present a model that accounts for the data and experimentally exploit this effect of geometric confinement to induce the breakup of a jet at a spatially defined location.}, added-at = {2009-05-19T18:00:18.000+0200}, author = {Humphry, Katherine J. and Ajdari, Armand and Nieves, Alberto F. and Stone, Howard A. and Weitz, David A.}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2557ca8f351b92ce84544a2bcdb8acc28/earthfare}, citeulike-article-id = {4544906}, description = {CiteULike: Everyone's library}, doi = {10.1103/PhysRevE.79.056310}, interhash = {dde559012fd7c7c3a8fa364e5c80ac5c}, intrahash = {557ca8f351b92ce84544a2bcdb8acc28}, journal = {Physical Review E (Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics)}, keywords = {confined-flow, drops, flow-instability, jets, microchannel-flow, multiphase-flow, solubility}, number = 5, pages = {056310+}, posted-at = {2009-05-19 13:42:15}, priority = {0}, publisher = {APS}, timestamp = {2009-05-19T18:03:27.000+0200}, title = {Suppression of instabilities in multiphase flow by geometric confinement}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.79.056310}, volume = 79, year = 2009 }