Anomalous mixing behaviour in rotationally actuated microfluidic devices

Abstract

We analyse the characteristics of two-fluid mixing in T-shaped microchannels on rotating platforms (Lab-on-a-Compact-Disk framework). Three regimes of mixing were identified based on the distinct flow behaviour in each of these regimes. A diffusion-based mixing regime was obtained for low rotation speeds. A Coriolis force based mixing regime was observed for intermediate rotation speeds, which introduced some nontrivial aspects in the mixing behaviour, which was explained through scaling analysis. At very high rotational speeds, rapid mixing close to the junction was achieved by exploiting flow instabilities (instability based mixing). A good agreement between the theoretical calculations and the experimental observations was obtained.