Simulation of the double emulsion formation through a hierarchical T-junction microchannel

What is it about?

This study presents a practical way to create three kinds of double emulsions such as double emulsion, double-component double emulsion and viscoelastic double emulsion. A hierarchical T-junction microfluidic device is selected to simulate this phenomenon. A system of the three-phase flows consists of the inner, middle and outer phases were simulated by the Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) method. The dripping regime is considered for the droplet formation in both T-junctions. The Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) technique is used to simulate the droplet formation and determine the interface rupture. The one-step and two-step encapsulation are used to create the double emulsion and the viscoelastic double emulsion, respectively. In both T-junctions, droplets are created by the balance of three parameters which are instability, viscous drag and pressure buildup. The one-step formation of double emulsion is presented for encapsulates the viscoelastic fluid. The simulated hierarchical microchannel shows some desirable features for creating the complex compounds. The encapsulation process is simulated in micro –scale that is useful for drug delivery applications.

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Why is it important?

The double emulsion structure occurs when a droplet contains one or more smaller droplets. It has various applications, such as encapsulated drug delivery, food industry, chemical reactions, cosmetics and heat exchangers.