Abstract:
In this talk, I present a theoretical and computational study of elongated drops in the confined geometry of a microfluidic T-junction. Two modes of droplet breakup have been observed in experiments: the breakup with "tunnels" and "obstructed" breakup. In the "obstructed" regime, a simple 2D theory based on a geometric construction for the interface shape combined with Tanner's law for the apparent contact angle in the limit of small capillary number predicts the breakup. I will present the comparison of the theoretical scaling law with direct numerical simulations. Finally, I will present some 3D simulations to better understand the discrepancy between full (2D) numerical solutions and experimental measurements.