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Creating round focused micro-jets from rectangular nozzles

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Abstract

A focused jet is an axisymmetric jet of liquid surrounded by an outer coaxial gas jet. The gas jet is typically used to compress the liquid jet in the radial direction thereby focusing it. At microscales, it is difficult to manufacture micro-scale delivery nozzles (needles) and to consistently align and axially position the liquid and the gas needles. However, it is very easy, using standard etching technologies to make precise and repeatable rectangular nozzle designs. This work will therefore explore the geometric and fluid dynamics constraints that allow one to design rectangular nozzles that produce round coaxial micro-jets of liquid and gas. Because of the small scales, the fluid dynamics of the focusing jet is unusual, and this work demonstrates that the liquid jet is best focused by shear stretching and not via gas compression. This paper shows that sheet jetting occurs when the Reynolds number of the gas is too high. Dripping occurs when the Weber number of the liquid is too low. The desired round jet occurs by balancing Weber number of the liquid jet and Reynolds number of the gas such that surface tension at the interface holds the water jet round while the acceleration of the water jet due to shear at the interface from fast-moving air causes the liquid jet cross-sectional area to decrease. The goal of this initial paper is to demonstrate that a parameter region exists where this flow behavior is possible.

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Abbreviations

U :

Velocity

ρ :

Density of fluid

μ :

Viscosity of fluid

α:

Volume fraction of liquid phase

Θ:

Material property of fluid

k:

Turbulent kinetic energy

ω:

Specific rate of turbulence dissipation

μ T :

Turbulent viscosity

L WaterInlet :

Length of side of square water inlet

h Outlet :

Height of outlet of nozzle

Wb Water :

Weber number of water at the water inlet

Re Air :

Reynolds number of air at nozzle outlet

ṁ air :

Mass flowrate of air in nozzle

ṁ water :

Mass flowrate of water in nozzle

D :

Diameter of liquid jet at outlet

D 0 :

Diameter of liquid jet at mesh resolution specified

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank NSF for funding this work. The work is supported by NSF IDBR Award No. 1353942. We acknowledge the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas at Austin for providing HPC, visualization and database resources that have contributed to the research results reported within this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA

    Venkatesh Inguva & Blair J. Perot

  2. European XFEL, Hamburg, Germany

    Rita Graceffa & Joachim Schulz

  3. University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA

    Osman Bilsel

Authors
  1. Venkatesh Inguva
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  2. Rita Graceffa
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  3. Joachim Schulz
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  4. Osman Bilsel
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  5. Blair J. Perot
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Venkatesh Inguva.

Additional information

Recommended by Associate Editor Donghyun You

Venkatesh Inguva is a Post-doctoral Researcher at Universität Paderborn. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His research involves the use of computational and experimental fluid dynamics to study flows in microchannels.

Rita Graceffa is a Scientific Officer at the Industrial Liaison Office at the European XFEL. She has experience in studying micro and milliseconds timescale kinetics initiated by fast mixing, by coupling microfluidics and x-rays.

Joachim Schulz is the Group Leader for Sample Environment & Characterization at the European XFEL. His research covers sample preparation and delivery methods for high repetition rate X-ray sources. Liquid jet sample delivery for serial femtosecond crystallography on protein crystals is a focus of this research.

Osman Bilsel is a Professor at University of Massachusetts Medical School. His research focuses on the mechanisms of protein folding and misfolding. He uses microfluidic mixers, time-resolved fluorescence and small-angle x-ray scattering to better understand early events in protein folding.

Blair J. Perot is a Professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His research spans the full spectrum of using computers to solve fluid dynamics problems, from developing numerical techniques to applied research topics in microfluidics and wind turbines.

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Inguva, V., Graceffa, R., Schulz, J. et al. Creating round focused micro-jets from rectangular nozzles. J Mech Sci Technol 33, 4281–4289 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-019-0824-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-019-0824-x

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