Numerical analysis of mixing behaviors of two types of E-shape micromixers

Numerical analysis has been performed to investigate the mixing performance and pressure drop of two three-dimensional micromixers, namely, stacking E-shape micromixer (SESM) and folding E-shape micromixer (FESM). In the SESM and FESM, an excellent mixing index can be achieved by splitting-recombination and chaotic advection mechanisms. The results indicate that as the Reynolds number increases, the mixing index and pressure drop increase. FESM presents better mixing performance than SESM when Re ⩾ 30. Moreover, mixing efficiency has reached 95% at Re = 50. The chaotic mechanism was identified as alternating rotation for SESM, continuous rotation for FESM, 3D stretching for SESM and FESM, respectively.