Pressure drops for droplet flows in microfluidic channels

Designing on-chip microfluidic pumps requires that the dependence of pressure drop across the device on the fluid flow rate be known. This relationship can be complicated for the case of two-phase droplet type flows. We characterized the flow-pressure relationship for the single-file flow of water drops in oil in microfluidic channels of rectangular cross sections. The pressure for such droplet flows was always larger—sometimes over 50% larger—than that for corresponding single-phase flows of the continuous phase. This is in spite of the fact that the water drops had a substantially lower viscosity than the continuous phase oil. The excess pressure was found to correlate reasonably well with the size of the drops relative to the size of the channels. This correlation for the excess pressure, as well as a correlation presented here for the size of drops in microchannels, should provide convenient guidelines in designing microfluidic devices for two-phase flows.