Numerical Investigation of Oscillatory Fluid Flow Through a Tesla Microvalve

In the present research, the performance of a Tesla microvalve has been studied under the unsteady three dimensional flow. The time averaged of diodicity is the main criteria for the evaluation of the performance of the valve. By simulation and obtaining the velocity and pressure fields within microvalve, changes in operating parameters of valve including total pressure drop and diodicity parameter in the range of various frequencies studied under sinusoidal excitation. The results showed that the amount of diodicity in steady three dimensional with consideration of third dimension is lower with respect to steady two dimensional flow at entire of studied range of Reynolds numbers. Transient effects on microvalve performance in three dimensional is also studied. It is observed that total pressure drop of unsteady case is greater than steady case at both of forward and backward directions. This important result is in a qualitative agreement with simulation results of other researchers which are obtained by two dimensional simulations. Investigation of effect of applied frequency on Tesla microvalve performance at different Reynolds number is another part of this study. The results showed that at the frequencies lower than 100Hz, the performance of the Tesla microvalve is independent of the frequency, however at higher frequencies greater than 100HZ, its performance is improved by increasing the frequency. Microvalve performance is improved and diodicity is increased by increasing of Reynolds number at all frequencies.