Clogging Pressures of Bubbles in Microchannel Contractions: Theory and Experiments

M.J. Jensen, X. Wang, D. Attinger and H. Bruus
Mikroelektronik Centret, DTU, DK

Keywords: microchannel, contraction, bubble, clogging

Abstract:
We present a theoretical, numerical, and experimental study of bubbles passing through a microchannel contraction. A certain pressure, the so-called clogging pressure, is needed to push a bubble through a microchannel contraction. We present the first experimental results on such systems and compare them to results from a theoretical model first presented at NanoTech 2003 (M. J. Jensen et al., Proc. vol. 1, p. 258-261). The experiments and theory are seen to be in quite good agreement and we give possible explanations for some of the discrepancies.

Nanotech 2004 Conference Technical Program Abstract