A CFD simulation was carried out to investigate the mixing process in a Y-shape micromixer with the software Fluent 6.3. The definition of the "diffusion angle" is proposed to describe the molecular diffusion process associated with the flow at low Reynolds number. The linear relationship between the diffusion angle and the Peclet number(Pe) is determined by both theoretical analysis and numerical simulation. Moreover, the simulation results reveal that the diffusion angle is only related to the Peclet number whilst it is irrelevant to the changes of Re(Reynolds number) and Sc(Schmidt number). The range of Peclet number and Reynolds number for experimental measurement are also suggested as Pe≤10000 and Re≤10.
A CFD simulation was carried out to investigate the mixing process in a Y-shape micromixer with the software Fluent 6.3. The definition of the "diffusion angle" is proposed to describe the molecular diffusion process associated with the flow at low Reynolds number. The linear relationship between the diffusion angle and the Peclet number (Pe) is determined by both theoretical analysis and numerical simulation. Moreover, the simulation results reveal that the diffusion angle is only related to the Peclet number whilst it is irrelevant to the changes of Re (Reynolds number) and Sc (Schmidt number). The range of Peclet number and Reynolds number for experimental measurement are also suggested as Pe≤10000 and Re≤10.