Issue 6, 2016

Multiscale flow in an electro-hydrodynamically driven oil-in-oil emulsion

Abstract

Efficient mixing strategies in a fluid involve generation of multi-scale flows which are strongly suppressed in highly viscous systems. In this work, we report a novel form of multi-scale flow, driven by an external electric field, in a highly viscous (η ∼ 1 Pa s) oil-in-oil emulsion system consisting of micron-size droplets. This electro-hydrodynamic flow leads to dynamical organization at spatial scales much larger than that of the individual droplets. We characterize the dynamics associated with these structures by measuring the time variation of the bulk Reynolds stress in a rheometer, as well as through a micro-scale rheometric measurement by probing the spectrum of fluctuations of a thin fiber cantilever driven by these flows. The results display scale invariance in the energy spectra over three decades with a power law reminiscent of turbulent convection. We also demonstrate the mixing efficiency in such micro-scale systems.

Graphical abstract: Multiscale flow in an electro-hydrodynamically driven oil-in-oil emulsion

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
14 Sep 2015
Accepted
09 Dec 2015
First published
09 Dec 2015

Soft Matter, 2016,12, 1759-1764

Multiscale flow in an electro-hydrodynamically driven oil-in-oil emulsion

A. Varshney, S. Gohil, M. Sathe, S. R. R V, J. B. Joshi, S. Bhattacharya, A. Yethiraj and S. Ghosh, Soft Matter, 2016, 12, 1759 DOI: 10.1039/C5SM02316E

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