Investigation of Electroosmotic/Pressure-driven Micromixing of Non-Newtonian Fluid Carrying Neutral Nanodrug Particles

In this article, a 2D simulation of mixing of nano drug particles has been performed for non-Newtonian fluid in a T-shaped microchannel. The effects of the applied electric field on the mixing behavior as a method for mixing enhancement as well as the effects of various parameters such as nanoparticle volume fraction, pressure gradient and rheological properties of the fluid have been investigated. The numerical method is based on the finite element method which has been performed using COMSOL Multiphysics software. All the physical properties of the fluid have been considered as a function of the local concentration of nanoparticles. It is expected that increasing the particle volume fraction in the inlet branch carrying nano drug, lead to the increase in the mean concentration in the outlet but the results show that mixing quality decreases for this case. The results also demonstrated the significant effects of electroosmotic phenomenon on the augmentation of mixing quality. Besides, it is found that applying higher pressure gradient results in a decrease of mixing quality, whereas changing the rheological index of the fluid has not any significant effect on the mixing quality for a pressure-driven flow.