Rotational Instabilities in Microchannel Flows

TL;DR

This paper investigates the linear stability of rotationally actuated microchannel flows, revealing four unstable modes that can enhance mixing in microfluidic devices, with implications for lab-on-a-CD applications.

Contribution

It identifies and characterizes four distinct unstable flow modes, including two previously unknown, and analyzes their potential to improve mixing in microfluidic systems.

Findings

Four unstable flow modes identified, including two novel modes.

Modes III and IV may induce strong localized mixing.

Energy transfer mechanisms involve Reynolds stress and Coriolis force effects.

Abstract

Mixing in numerous medical and chemical applications, involving overly long microchannels, can be enhanced by inducing flow instabilities. The channel length, is thus shortened in the inertial microfluidics regime due to the enhanced mixing, thereby rendering the device compact and portable. Motivated by the emerging applications of lab-on-a-CD based compact microfluidic devices, we analyze the linear stability of rotationally actuated microchannel flows commonly deployed for biochemical and biomedical applications. The solution of the coupled system of Orr-Sommerfeld (OS) and Squire (SQ) equations yields the growth rate and the neutral curve of the two types of instabilities: (i) the Tollmien-Schlichting (TS) wave and (ii) the Coriolis force-driven instability. We report the existence of four distinct unstable modes (Modes I-IV) at low Reynolds numbers of which only the existence of Mode I is previously known for the present flow configuration. Furthermore, Modes I and II exhibit competing characteristics. We infer that Modes III and IV might cause strong mixing locally by virtue of strong velocity perturbation in proximity to the interface. We quantify the potential of all the modes to induce such localized mixing near the interface using the notion of penetration depth. Further, insight into the mechanism of energy transfer, drawn from the evaluation of kinetic-energy budget, reveals that the Reynolds stress first transfers energy from the mean flow to the streamwise velocity fluctuations. The Coriolis force, thereafter, redistributes the axial momentum into spanwise and wall-normal directions, generating the frequently observed roll-cell structures. A qualitative comparison of our predictions with reported experiments on roll-cells indicates co-existence of Modes I and II.