Acoustic streaming has been widely used in microfluidics to manipulate various micro−/nano-objects. In this work, acoustic streaming activated by interdigital transducers (IDT) immersed in highly viscous oil is studied numerically and experimentally. In particular, we developed a modeling strategy termed the “slip velocity method” that enables a 3D simulation of surface acoustic wave microfluidics in a large domain (4 × 4 × 2 mm 3 ) and at a high frequency (23.9 MHz). The experimental and numerical results both show that on top of the oil, all the acoustic streamlines converge at two horizontal stagnation points above the two symmetric sides of the IDT. At these two stagnation points, water droplets floating on the oil can be trapped. Based on these characteristics of the acoustic streaming field, we designed a surface acoustic wave microfluidic device with an integrated IDT array fabricated on a 128° YX LiNbO 3 substrate to perform programmable, contactless droplet manipulation. By activating IDTs accordingly, the water droplets on the oil can be moved to the corresponding traps. With its excellent capability for manipulating droplets in a highly programmable, controllable manner, our surface acoustic wave microfluidic devices are valuable for on-chip contactless sample handling and chemical reactions.
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Dynamics of an acoustically levitated fluid droplet captured by a low-order immersed boundary method
We present a variant of the immersed boundary (IB) method that implements acoustic perturbation theory to model acoustically levitated fluid droplets. Instead of resolving sound waves numerically, our hybrid method solves acoustic scattering semi-analytically to obtain the corresponding time-averaged acoustic forces on the droplet. This framework allows the droplet to be simulated on inertial timescales of interest, and therefore works with much larger time steps than traditional compressible flow solvers. To benchmark this technique and demonstrate its utility, we implement the hybrid IB method for a single droplet in a standing wave. Simulated droplet shape deformations and streaming profiles agree with available theoretical predictions. Our simulations also yield insights into the streaming profiles for elliptical droplets, for which a comprehensive analytic solution does not yet exist.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2104837
- PAR ID:
- 10596154
- Publisher / Repository:
- AIP
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Physics of Fluids
- Volume:
- 36
- Issue:
- 9
- ISSN:
- 1070-6631
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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