Generalized behavior of the breakup of viscous drops in confinements

The breakup of confined drops in shear flow between parallel plates is investigated as a function of viscosity ratio and confinement ratio. Using a boundary-integral method for numerical simulations and a counter-rotating experimental device, critical capillary numbers in shear flow are obtained. It is observed that different viscosity ratios yield different trends with increasing confinement ratio: a low viscosity ratio drop shows an increase in critical capillary number, at a viscosity ratio of unity no major trend is seen, and the critical capillary number for a high viscosity ratio drop decreases significantly. A generalized explanation for all viscosity ratios is that confinement affects the orientation of the drop with respect to the direction of the local strain field. At moderate confinement ratios, the drop orients more towards the strain direction, where it experiences a stronger flow and hence, the critical capillary number is decreased. As the drop gets more confined, it aligns more in the flow direction. Hence, the drop experiences a weaker flow and thus, additionally stabilized by wall effects, it breaks at a higher critical capillary number. In principle, this behavior is the same for all viscosity ratios, but transitions occur at different confinement ratios. Most of the breakup is of a binary nature, but ternary breakup can occur if the drop length is larger than 6 undeformed drop radii, consistent with arguments based on the Rayleigh-Plateau instability

Microconfined equiviscous droplet deformation : comparison of experimental and numerical results

The dynamics of confined droplets in shear flow is investigated using computational and experimental techniques for a viscosity ratio of unity. Numerical calculations, using a boundary integral method (BIM) in which the Green's functions are modified to include wall effects, are quantitatively compared with the results of confined droplet experiments performed in a counter-rotating parallel plate device. For a viscosity ratio of unity, it is experimentally seen that confinement induces a sigmoidal droplet shape during shear flow. Contrary to other models, this modified BIM model is capable of predicting the correct droplet shape during startup and steady state. The model also predicts an increase in droplet deformation and more orientation toward the flow direction with increasing degree of confinement, which is all experimentally confirmed. For highly confined droplets, oscillatory behavior is seen upon startup of flow, characterized by an overshoot in droplet length followed by droplet retraction. Finally, in the case of a viscosity ratio of unity, a minor effect of confinement on the critical capillary number is observed both numerically and experimentally. ©2008 American Institute of Physic

Breakup criteria for confined droplets: Effects of compatibilization and component viscoelasticity

The breakup of confined droplets was studied systematically for systems with either interfacial or component viscoelasticity. The former was obtained by adding a compatibilizer, the latter by using a viscoelastic fluid as the droplet or as the matrix phase. The critical capillary numbers of Newtonian and compatibilized droplets showed a similar increase with increasing confinement ratio. However, a decrease in breakup length was observed in the compatibilized case, caused by the viscoelastic interface. Viscoelastic droplets experienced more stabilization by confinement compared to Newtonian droplets. Matrix viscoelasticity, on the other hand, induced a destabilization with a minimum in critical capillary number as a function of confinement ratio, resulting from a complex interplay of viscoelastic stresses