Flow distribution in microchannel devices with U-shaped manifolds

This article investigates fluid distribution in multichannel microfluidic devices with U-shaped manifolds. The parameters investigated include Reynolds number, microchannel width, microchannel spacing width, and microchannel length. The study is carried out using a microfluidic device having 50 microchannels employing water as the working fluid. The flow distribution in the microfluidic device is investigated for microchannel widths between 100 µm to 500 µm and for Reynolds number ranging between 0.04 to 100. The effect of channel spacing width on flow distribution is investigated for microchannel spacing widths between 100 µm to 500 µm. The increase in Reynolds number affects the flow distribution by increasing the non-uniformity of the flow. It is found that increasing the microchannel width causes more non-uniformity in the flow. It is also found that increasing the microchannel spacing width decreased the non-uniformity of the flow distribution. It is found that increasing the channel width from 100 µm to 300 µm increased the flow maldistribution by 83%, and increasing the microchannel spacing width from 100 µm to 300 µm decreased the flow maldistribution by 42%. It is observed that the microchannel width has a stronger influence on the flow distribution compared with microchannel spacing width. The study is useful for examining the flow maldistribution in microfluidic devices as their performance is dependent on flow rate.