Chemical Engineering Science 61 (2006) 37143724

www.elsevier.com/locate/ces
Numerical study on development of particle concentration proles in a
curved microchannel
Shinichi Ookawara
a,
, David Street
b
, Kohei Ogawa
a
a
Department of Chemical Engineering, Graduate School of Science & Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo 152-8552, Japan
b
Fluent Asia Pacic, Tokyo 160-0023, Japan
Received 23 October 2005; received in revised form 21 December 2005; accepted 9 January 2006
Available online 28 February 2006
Abstract
The functional section of a microseparator/classier is a semicircular microchannel whose downstream end bifurcates to separate/classify the
particles in a slurry [Ookawara, S., Higashi, R., Street, D., Ogawa, K., 2004a. Feasibility study on concentration of slurry and classication of
contained articles by microchannel. Chemical Engineering Journal 101, 171178 and Ookawara, S., Higashi, R., Street, D., Ogawa, K., 2004b.
The Inuence of channel depth on the performance of a microseparator/classier. Kagaku Kougaku Ronbunshu 30, 135141.]. Previous numerical
studies, based on an EulerianEulerian approach, showed how the particle lift force was an indispensable factor for the separation/classication
[Ookawara, S., Street, D., Ogawa, K., 2004c. A practical application of the Euler-granular model to a microseparator/classier. In: Proceedings
of the Fifth International Conference on Multiphase Flow, CD-ROM, #206.]. The present numerical study, by consistently employing the
EulerianEulerian approach, extensively examines the development of particle concentration proles and the effects of feed concentration at
various cross-sections in a curved microchannel for De = 30(Re = 450). The necessary arc length for particle concentration proles to be
fully established increases with the decreasing particle size. Particles become most concentrated at the centers of secondary Dean vortices. The
dimensions of concentration region depend on the particle size and the feed concentration. In spite of the small particle relaxation time in water
and the laminar ow nature, steep shear rates in a microchannel cause a collision interval comparable to the relaxation time of the particles
that can be separated. To characterize the effect a newly dened Stokes number is based on the shear-induced particleparticle collisions in
liquid laminar ow. A concentration efciency is also dened as the normalized ratio of the maximum concentration to the feed concentration
and it is approximately 1.0 below a Stokes number of 0.1. However, beyond the Stokes number of 0.1 the concentration efciency decreases
linearly as the log of the Stokes number increases independently of the particle size. This is because the particle to particles collision in a
concentrated slurry adversely inuences the efciency of the separator.
2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Microstructure; Separations; Particle; Dean vortices; Lift force; Multiphase ow
1. Introduction
The availability of precision engineering technologies such as
photolithography and micromachining enables the fabrication
of various microuidic devices such as chemical reactors and
separators. Separation is particularly important as many tradi-
tional separation techniques cannot be applied to microdevices.
A number of separation devices have been proposed (Shelby
et al., 2003; Huang et al., 2004; Ookawara et al., 2004a;

Corresponding author. Tel.: +81 3 5734 3035; fax: +81 3 5734 2882.
E-mail address: sokawara@chemeng.titech.ac.jp (S. Ookawara).
0009-2509/$ - see front matter 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ces.2006.01.016
Fujiwara et al., 2004) for microdevices. Fig. 1 shows a
schematic diagram of a novel microseparator/classier that has
been developed as a microdevice to operate with microreactors
(Ookawara et al., 2004a, b). The main part of this device is a
semicircular microchannel of rectangular cross-section with a
curvature radius of 20 mm. The channel width and depth of
the prototype typically fall into the range of 100400 m. The
channels are formed from two resin plates. A curved channel is
mechanically cut into one of the resin plates using a micromill.
The second resin plate is placed on top of the channel to form a
fully enclosed channel. The upstream end of the main channel
is connected to a straight inlet sub-channel and the downstream
end symmetrically bifurcates into two exit branches. A slurry is
S. Ookawara et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 61 (2006) 37143724 3715
Dean
200 - 400 m
20 mm
vortices
Centrifugal
force
Inner exit Outer exit Inlet
100 250 m
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of device structure and expected separation/classication mechanism.
fed into the device through the inlet channel and is discharged
through both bifurcated channels. Even with Reynolds number
of the order 10
2
extremely high streamwise velocity and con-
sequently centrifugal acceleration exists. The high centrifugal
force will cause dispersed particles with a density greater than
the continuous phase to travel toward the outer channel wall.
However, the centrifugal force causes laminar secondary ow
pattern known as Dean vortices to form and these tend to en-
train the dispersed particles. It was initially assumed that this
resulted in large particles concentrating near the outer wall of
the channel due to larger slip velocity and the smaller particles
remaining entrained (Ookawara et al., 2004a). It is known at
present, however, the assumption is not fully valid as described
later. At the downstream bifurcation the larger particles will
ow into the outer branch while dispersed smaller particles are
discharged from both branches. It is interesting to point out
there is another microdevice with similar curved geometry and
microscale dimensions, which is developed and studied numer-
ically for the contrary purpose of mixing due to Dean vortices
(Schnfeld and Hardt, 2004). It should be noted that numeri-
cal predictions of the appearance of Dean vortices in a curved
microchannel with similar dimensions were validated by 3-
D experimental observation (Yamaguchi et al., 2004) and that
the mixing enhancement was experimentally conrmed corre-
sponding to numerical predictions (Jiang et al., 2004).
Although experimental studies showed the feasibility of sep-
aration/classication by the device with much larger curvature
radius compared with the literature above (Ookawara et al.,
2004a, b), the initial assumption for the separation mechanism
does not seem to be fully valid due to the unexpectedly large
secondary ow velocity compared with the expected particle
slip velocity. For instance, Reynolds number of 450 in a chan-
nel with width and depth of 200 and 170 m gives the mean
velocity of about 2.45 m/s for water whose density and viscos-
ity are 1000 kg/m
3
and 0.001 Pa s, respectively. The Reynolds
number Re is dened as
Re =
UD
h

, (1)
where U, v and D
h
are the mean velocity, kinematic viscosity
and hydraulic diameter, respectively. The mean velocity gives
the value of about 300 m/s
2
as a centrifugal acceleration in
the channel with curvature radius of 20 mm. The density and
average particle diameters separated in the experiments were
1190 kg/m
3
, 10 and 20 m, respectively. The outwards slip
velocities based on Stokes law can be calculated as 0.317 and
1.27 mm/s for 10 and 20 m particles, respectively. On the other
hand, the value of 46.0 mm/s is given as an average circulating
velocity of Dean vortices V
Dean,ave
by a correlation numerically
proposed for this geometry (Ookawara et al., 2004a).
V
Dean,ave
=1.8 10
4
De
1.63
. (2)
The Dean number De is dened as
De =Re
_
D
h
2R
, (3)
where R is the curvature radius. It seems that these slip veloci-
ties are too small for the particles to be concentrated against the
entrainment caused by the Dean vortices. Motivated by this con-
sideration, a coupled particle and uid ow simulation based
on an EulerianEulerian approach was performed (Ookawara
et al., 2004c). The evaluations of particle concentration proles
3716 S. Ookawara et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 61 (2006) 37143724
over the cross-sectional plane at the end of semicircle channel
showed that a lift force model was indispensable to predict the
proles qualitatively corresponding to the experimental results
(Ookawara et al., 2004a). It is again interesting to mention that
there exits a study where the two uids approach is applied
to a particulate ow associated with Dean vortices in a curved
membrane tube although the tube diameter is larger than 3 mm
(Tiwari et al., 2004). Compared with a microchannel the lift
force in a much larger tube is insignicant if a uid with prop-
erties similar to water is adopted as the continuous phase and
the Reynolds number is low.
An understanding of the mechanisms to concentrate the dis-
persed phase with the lift force and the Dean vortices is still
insufcient. Knowledge regarding the development of particle
concentration proles and effect of feed concentration is par-
ticularly useful for optimizing equipment design and opera-
tion. Therefore, the present numerical study with the particle
lift force model examines particle concentration proles at var-
ious, but especially at upstream sections of the semicircular
microchannel in the feed concentration range of 0.00060.15
in terms of the particle volume fraction. The Euler-granular
multiphase model, which is based on the EulerianEulerian ap-
proach, implemented in a commercial CFD code (FLUENT
6.1) is utilized (Fluent Inc., 2003). The models for drag force
are rened compared with the previous study (Ookawara et al.,
2004c). The optimization strategy will be discussed based on
the results.
2. Numerical method
The EulerianEulerian multiphase approach which treats
both uid and particle as continuous phases is adopted. A vari-
ation of this model known as the Euler-granular model takes
into consideration the granular nature of the solid secondary
phase. This model has been used to simulate the multiphase
ow found in liquidsolid mixing and in uidized beds. In
this study, a commercial CFD code FLUENT 6.1, which is
based on nite volume method, is employed to perform the
EulerianEulerian multiphase calculation. FLUENT 6.1 also
contains an Euler-granular model for treatment of the solid
dispersed phase.
2.1. Geometry and materials
Fig. 2 schematically shows the geometry for the present sim-
ulation, which was described in a previous study (Ookawara
et al., 2004c). The width and depth of the rectangular chan-
nels are 200 m and 170 m, respectively. The curvature of
the main semicircular section is 20 mm. These sizes are iden-
tical with the dimensions of the rst prototype examined in
experiments (Ookawara et al., 2004a). The bifurcation at the
downstream end of semicircle is not modeled mathematically
and both the ends are connected to straight channels with a
length of 5 mm. The meshes are generated at 10 m/mesh cell
over the cross-sectional plane and at about 50 m/mesh cell
in the mainstream direction. The geometry contains in total
495,380 computational uid cells. The density
f
and viscos-

R
=
2
0

m
m
Inlet
Outlet
W=200 m
Straight entry channel
r
z
Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of the geometry used for the simulation.
ity
f
of water, dened as the primary phase, or continuous
phase, are 1000 kg/m
3
and 0.001 Pa s, respectively. The den-
sity
p
of the secondary phase, or dispersed phase, is specied
as 1190 kg/m
3
. Monodisperse spherical particles whose diam-
eters d
p
are 1.8, 5, 10, 15 and 20 m are examined in each
numerical simulation.
2.2. Governing equations
Steady ow condition and incompressibility of both phases
can reduce the governing equations to be solved as follows:
2.2.1. Conservation of mass
Fluid phase : (
f
u) =0. (4)
Particulate phase : (
p
v) =0, (5)
where
f
and
p
denote the volume fractions of uid and par-
ticulate phases, and u and v are velocities of uid and particle,
respectively.
2.2.2. Conservation of momentum
Fluid phase:
(
f

f
uu)
f
p +
f
+
f

f
g +K(v u)
+F
Lift,f
=0. (6)
Particulate phase:
(
p

p
vv)
p
p p
p
+
p
+
p

p
g
+K(u v) +F
Lift,p
=0, (7)
where
f
and
p
are the stressstrain tensors of uid and par-
ticle.

f
=
f

f
(u +u
T
). (8)

p
=
p

p
(v +v
T
). (9)
S. Ookawara et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 61 (2006) 37143724 3717
Here
f
and
p
represent shear viscosities of uid and particu-
late phases. The gravity is specied as 9.8 m/s
2
in the perpen-
dicular direction to the plane of the semicircle.
In this study, the lift force acting on the particle in uid
F
Lift,p
is computed as follows:
F
Lift,p
=0.5
f

p
(u v) ( u). (10)
The equation is derived assuming inviscid continuous phase,
but originally with minus sign (Drew and Lahey, 1993). The
original DrewLahey model predicts a lift force acting in the
opposite direction compared with well-known Saffmans lift
force (1965), which is derived by assuming a very viscous liquid
as the continuous phase. Since the ow condition in our study
always falls into moderate laminar ow regime, the viscous
effect is not negligible. Therefore, the original DrewLahey
force cannot be adopted in this study. On the other hand, the
shear rate range in our study is too high for the Saffmans lift
force to be applied (Saffman, 1965). Further, to the authors
knowledge, there is no lift force model whose applicability has
been rigorously validated to the extremely high shear rate that
can be found in the curved microchannel. Therefore, the sign
of DrewLahey model without the shear rate limitation was
reversed as Eq. (10) so that the acting direction became the same
as that of the Saffmans lift force. It was conrmed that the lift
force model in the present study (Eq. (10)) predicted particle
concentration proles at the end of semicircular section that
correspond to experimental results (Ookawara et al., 2004c).
Therefore, Eq. (10) is consistently employed as the lift force
model in this study. The uid experiences the force of the same
magnitude, but in the opposite direction as
F
Lift,f
=F
Lift,p
. (11)
Generally, the exchange coefcient K in Eqs. (6) and (7)
for the momentum exchange between uid and solid phases is
expressed as follows:
K =

p

p
f

. (12)
Here the particle relaxation time is dened as
=

p
d
2
p
18
f
. (13)
For the drag function f, the SyamlalObrien model (Syamlal
and OBrien, 1989) is adopted as follows:
f =
C
D
Re
p

f
24v
2
r,p
, (14)
where the drag function has the following form (Dalla Valle,
1948):
C
D
=
_
0.63 +
4.8
_
Re
p
/v
r,p
_
2
. (15)
This model is based on measurements of the terminal velocities
of particles in uidized or settling beds, with correlations that
are a function of the volume fraction and relative Reynolds
number dened as
Re
p
=

f
|v u|d
p

f
. (16)
Consequently, the exchange coefcient is expressed as
K =
3
p

f
4v
2
r,p
d
p
C
D
|v u|, (17)
where v
r,p
is the terminal velocity correlation for the solid
phase (Garside and Al-Dibouni, 1977).
v
r,p
=0.5
_
A 0.06Re
p
+
_
(0.06Re
p
)
2
+0.12Re
p
(2B A) +A
2
_
(18)
with
A =
4.14
f
(19)
and
B =0.8
1.28
f
(
f
0.85) (20)
and
B =
2.65
f
(
f
>0.85). (21)
This model is appropriate when the solid shear stresses are
dened according to Syamlal et al. (1993) as described below.
Solid pressure p
p
is calculated as follows:
p
p
=
p

p
+2
p
(1 +e
pp
)
2
p
g
0,pp

p
, (22)
where e
pp
is the coefcient of restitution for particle collision
specied as 0.9 in this study, g
0,pp
is the radial distribution
function, and
p
is the granular temperature. The granular tem-
perature is proportional to the kinetic energy of the random
uctuating component of the particle velocity. In this study, an
algebraic expression for the granular temperature is utilized,
which is obtained from the energy equation of Lun et al. (1984),
by assuming that the granular energy is dissipated locally; ne-
glecting the convection and diffusion contributions; and retain-
ing only the generation and dissipation terms (Syamlal, 1987).
The radial distribution function g
0,pp
is a correction factor that
modies the probability of collisions between grains when the
solid granular phase becomes dense. In this study, the follow-
ing model is adopted (Ogawa et al., 1980):
g
0,pp
=
_
1
_

p

p,limit
_
1/3
_
1
, (23)
where
p,limit
is an allowed maximum value of the solid volume
fraction, which is specied as 0.63 in this study.
Solid shear viscosity is composed of collisional, kinetic and
frictional parts

p
=
p,col
+
p,kin
+
p,fr
. (24)
3718 S. Ookawara et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 61 (2006) 37143724
The collisional part of the shear viscosity is modeled as
(Gidaspow et al., 1992; Syamlal et al., 1993)

p,col
=
4
5

p
d
p
g
0,pp
(1 +e
pp
)
_

_
1/2
. (25)
The kinetic viscosity is specied as follows (Syamlal et al.,
1993):

p,kin
=

p
d
p

p
_

6(3 e
pp
)
_
1 +
2
5
(1 +e
pp
)(3e
pp
1)
p
g
0,pp
_
.
(26)
The frictional viscosity is specied as zero in this study. Further,
the extensive discussion on granular temperature for solid phase
is described elsewhere (Syamlal et al., 1993).
2.3. Boundary conditions and numerical schemes
At the inlet to the straight section of the microchannel a uni-
form velocity U is assumed. The velocity is chosen so that uid
phase Re numbers is 450 (De =30), which is a condition that
resulted in the best separation in the experiments (Ookawara
et al., 2004a). The feed volume fraction
p,feed
at the inlet
is varied within the range of 0.00060.15. The lower limit is
equivalent to the experimental condition and the range covers
a somewhat dense regime. The same velocity U is specied
as the inlet boundary conditions of the particulate phase. The
granular temperature is specied as zero at the inlet since there
is no reason to specify a particular value. The granular temper-
ature prole is expected to become fully developed within the
straight inlet channel before reaching the semicircular separa-
tor section. The following correlation for the entry length L
e
of
a straight circular pipe (Dombrowski et al., 1993) was applied
to a rectangular microchannel by substituting the hydraulic di-
ameter for the pipe diameter (Kamholz et al., 1999; Ookawara
et al., 2004d).
L
e
D
h
=0.0550Re +0.379 exp(0.148Re) +0.260. (27)
It should be noted that the calculated entry length is 4.6 mm
which is comparable to the length of the straight inlet channel.
The no-slip condition is applied on the channel walls.
For the pressurevelocity coupling and discretization
schemes for convection terms, the Phase-Coupled SIMPLE
algorithm (Vasquez and Ivanov, 2000) with a second-order up-
wind scheme is adopted. For volume fraction, a second-order
upwind scheme is employed.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Development of particle concentration prole of dilute
slurry
In this study, the origin of cylindrical coordinates is set at the
center of the semicircular section and the angular position is
measured streamwise from the connection between the semicir-
cle and the straight channel as shown in Fig. 2. The proles of
Table 1
Range of particle volume fraction for each particle size (
p,feed
=0.0006)
d
p
(m) 1.8 5 10 15 20
MinMax (10
4
) 5.906.02 3.076.65 0.0020.2 0.0047.6 0.0064.5
Minimum Maximum
Fig. 3. A color map for 20 subranges in contour maps. (The minimum and
maximum subranges are always shown in blue and red, respectively.)
particle volume fraction are evaluated over the cross-sectional
(rz) planes of the semicircle at given angular positions. The
ranges of volume fraction shown in Table 1 are divided into 20
subranges and the contour maps are always lled with colors
based on the color map shown in Fig. 3. The left-hand side of
the contour map corresponds to the outside from the semicir-
cle center and the upwards direction of the gure is the posi-
tive z-direction. The value near left-bottom corner of the map
indicates the angular position. In Fig. 4, a series of the parti-
cle volume fraction, viz., concentration proles of 1.820 m
is shown for the feed concentration of 0.0006. In the case of
1.8 m particle, for instance, the portion shown in warm colors
such as red and orange seem to indicate considerably higher
concentrations compared with those shown in cold colors such
as blue and sky blue. However, there is a difference of at most
2% from the average concentration, viz., the value of 0.0006,
which is given as the uniform boundary condition at the inlet.
When the range is so narrow sufcient separation cannot be
achieved by the exit bifurcation. The following contour maps,
therefore, should be examined simultaneously with the range
over the computational domain given in Table 1 and with the
color map shown in Fig. 3.
At 0

in Fig. 4, the particle concentration proles are not

uniform since they are developed in the straight channel asso-
ciated with the development of the velocity prole in the liquid
phase. As is well understood, uid near the wall decelerates
and moves to the channel axis in channel entry so that the uni-
form velocity prole changes into fully developed ow. Since
the uid ow carries the contained particles, the particle con-
centration also becomes lower near the walls in the straight
section. Further, the application of the lift force model results
in even lower concentration in the wall region. The effect is
even more apparent for larger particles. This phenomenon can
be easily understood based on the lift force model expressed
by Eq. (10). The slip velocity between the liquid and particu-
late phases is expected to increase with the particle size due to
the larger inertia. Since the larger slip velocity causes a larger
magnitude of the lift force by Eq. (10), it can be said that the
present lift force formulation with positive sign results in the
particle movement in the direction away from the wall due to
the steep shear rate in the region.
Once the slurry ows into the semicircular section, the par-
ticulate concentration prole deforms with the formation of the
Dean vortices. The rst notable change always appears near the
S. Ookawara et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 61 (2006) 37143724 3719
(a)
0 3 6 9 12
15 18 21 24 27
30 45 60 90 180
(b)
(d)
(e)
(c)
0 3 6 9 12
15 18 21 24 27
30 45 60 90 180
0 3 6 9 12
15 18 21 24 27
30 45 60 90 180
0 3 6 9 12
15 18 21 24 27
30 45 60 90 180
0 3 6 9 12
15 18 21 24 27
30 45 60 90 180
Fig. 4. Volume fraction proles of particle over the planes at given angles: (a) 1.8 m particle, (b) 5 m particle, (c) 10 m particle, (d) 15 m particle and
(e) 20 m particle.
inner (right) wall. A uid region with a lower particle concen-
tration seems to penetrate into the central bulk zone from the
inner (right) to the outer (left) walls, viz., in the direction of
the centrifugal force. The penetration nally generates a pair of
isolated regions with higher particle concentration in the upper
and lower half of the plane of the channel at around 30

. The
lift force keeps generating uid regions with low concentration
near the upper and the lower walls, which circulate along the
walls with the Dean vortices. Consequently, the regions merge
at the middle of the inner wall and continuously ow into the
bulk zone between the isolated regions with the higher concen-
tration. This is because the regions remain isolated in the an-
gular range above 30

. Since larger particles exposed to larger

lift forces move quickly from the inwards ow near upper and
lower walls to outwards ow between the isolated regions, the
width of the region decreases and the distance between the in-
ner edge of the regions and inner wall increase, with an in-
crease of the particle size. Further, in the center of the isolated
regions, the particle concentration gradually increases with in-
creasing angle. This is because the lift force works to shrink the
circulation path of the particles towards the center of the Dean
vortices. These tendencies can be seen particularly in the par-
ticle diameter range above 10 m which experience the larger
lift force.
As a result, if a bifurcation exists at the end of the semicir-
cular section, particles larger than 10 m that are conned near
outer wall are mostly discharged from the outer branch. In the
case of 5 m particles, it is expected that the particle concen-
tration in the outer branch is slightly larger than the concen-
tration in the inner branch since the isolated region with high
concentration spreads widely over the entire channel. In gen-
eral, the larger the particle size is the better the separation is
since the isolated regions shrink and shift to the outer wall with
increasing particle concentration.
3.2. Effect of feed concentration on the development of
particle concentration prole
To examine the effect of the feed concentration on the de-
velopment of the particle concentration prole, a concentration
ratio

p,max
, which is the maximum concentration
p,max
di-
vided by the feed concentration
p,feed
, is evaluated at given
3720 S. Ookawara et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 61 (2006) 37143724
0
1
2
3
4
0 30 60 90 120 150 180

*
p
,
m
a
x

[
-
]
0
5
10
15

*
p
,
m
a
x

[
-
]
0
10
5

*
p
,
m
a
x

[
-
]
[degrees]
Inlet
0 30 60 90 120 150 180
[degrees]
Inlet
0 30 60 90 120 150 180
[degrees]
Inlet

p, feed
=0.0006

p, feed
=0.001

p, feed
=0.0006

p, feed
=0.001

p, feed
=0.005

p, feed
=0.005

p, feed
=0.01

p, feed
=0.01

p, feed
=0.02

p, feed
=0.1

p, feed
=0.15

p, feed
=0.05

p, feed
=0.02

p, feed
=0.05

p, feed
=0.0006

p, feed
=0.001

p, feed
=0.005

p, feed
=0.01

p, feed
=0.02

p, feed
=0.1

p, feed
=0.05







(a) (b)
(c)
Fig. 5. Maximum volume fractions divided by feed volume fraction at given angular positions: (a) 10 m particle, (b) 15 m particle and (c) 20 m particle.
angular positions, for the 10, 15 and 20 m particles. It can be
seen in Fig. 4 that the formative periods of concentration pro-
le are 045

for 10 m particle and 030

for 15 and 20 m
particles. In these angular ranges, plots of

p,max
constitute S-
shaped curves as seen in Fig. 5. Once the prole is established
the concentration linearly increases with the angle at the center
of concentrated region. The linear increase period ends at 90

for 15 m while it is at 60

for 20 m particle. Subsequently,

the concentration asymptotically converges to an equilibrium
value. For 10 m particle the linear increase period does not
end within 180

, which is the end of semicircular section. Gen-

erally, it can be said that the necessary arc length for

p,max
to
attain the maximum value decreases with the increase of parti-
cle size and with the decrease of feed concentration. In a very
dilute range around the lowest feed concentration of 0.0006,
it is usually expected that particleparticle collisions are rare,
especially in the laminar regime and therefore the particle con-
centration prole is determined by drag and lift forces based
S. Ookawara et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 61 (2006) 37143724 3721
0.1
1
10
0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1
10 m
15 m
20 m
C
e

[
-
]

p, feed
[-]
Fig. 6. The dependency of concentration efciency on feed concentration.
on the liquid-phase ow pattern. It is very important to know
the limit of the dilute range from a practical view point since
the highest separation efciency is consistently expected. Since
the

p,max
does not change practically at 0.0006 and 0.001 for
all particle sizes, both conditions are expected to fall into the
dilute range. Beyond the concentration of 0.001, however, the
decreasing tendency seems to depend on particle size.
To clarify the above tendency, a concentration efciency C
e
at 180

is dened as the ratio of

p,max
attained at a given feed
concentration to

p,max
obtained for a reference feed concen-
tration of 0.0006. It is expected that C
e
remains unity in the
dilute range where particle collisions negligible. Actually, for a
feed concentration of 0.001, C
e
is nearly unity for all particle
sizes. In the range above 0.001, it is clear that the larger the
particle is the faster C
e
decreases with the feed concentration
as shown in Fig. 6. Even at the
p,feed
of 0.005, the notable
decrease can be seen for 20 m particle.
In the dilute particle concentration range particle motion is
controlled by the uid force (drag and lift) while for dense
ows it is one in which the particle motion is controlled by
collisions (Crowe et al., 1997). The Stokes number St k
c
based
on particle relaxation time
p
and the mean free time
mf
of
collision is dened as
St k
c
=

p

mf
. (28)
If St k
c
1 then the ow is dilute, that is, the particles have
sufcient time to respond to changes in the uid velocity. On
the other hand, if St k
c
1, then the collisions control particle
motion and the ow in dense (Yamamoto et al., 2001).
In the present study, a new Stokes number, St k
s
, is dened
which is based on the shear-induced particleparticle collision
time
s
in a liquid laminar ow as
St k
s
=

p

s
. (29)
The particle relaxation time
p
in a liquid is given as

p
=
(
p
+
f
/2)d
2
p
18
f
. (30)
The values are listed in Table 2. It should be noted that the unit
for the relaxation time is as small as a micro second. On the
Table 2
Particle relaxation time in water (
f
=1000 kg/m
3
,
f
=0.001 Pa s,
p
=
1190 kg/m
3
)
d
p
(m) 1.8 5 10 15 20

p
(s) 0.3 2.3 9.4 21.1 37.6
other hand, the collision frequency f
s
in a liquid laminar ow
with shear rate of S can be estimated as follows (Manley and
Mason, 1952):
f
s
=
8
p
S

. (31)
This theoretical formulation was originally validated for low
particle concentration and shear rate. Recently, it was success-
fully utilized to predict dilatant ow characteristics of sus-
pensions in moderate concentrations (0.10.3) and shear rate
(1001000 s
1
) ranges (Ookawara and Ogawa, 2003a,b). It is
assumed that the formula can be utilized in microchannels
where shear rate is much higher. Although, the original formula
was theoretically derived assuming simple sheared ow, in this
study, the shear rate S is locally evaluated in the solid phase as
S =
_
1
2
(v +v
T
): (v +v
T
). (32)
The invariant effectively evaluates the axial velocity gradient in
the direction normal to the channel wall at any angular position
since the secondary ow velocity is less than 2% of the axial
velocity in the liquid phase (Ookawara et al., 2004a). Further,
it is expected that the velocity gradient in the solid phase rather
than in the liquid phase gives a more accurate estimation of
the particleparticle collision frequency in the case where some
slip velocity exists between the liquid and solid phases.
Then
s
is given as

s
=
1
f
s
=

8
p
S
. (33)
Eventually, St k
s
can be expressed as
St k
s
=
4
p
(
p
+
f
/2)d
2
p
S
9
f
. (34)
The value of St k
s
is locally evaluated over the cross-section at
180

and the maximum value is taken as a representative St k

s
value for a given condition of particle size and feed concentra-
tion.
The values of C
e
in Fig. 6 are replotted against St k
s
in Fig. 7.
It is remarkable that the decreasing tendency of C
e
seems to be
correlated with St k
s
regardless of particle size. The onset of the
decrease seems to exist at St k
s
of about 0.1 and then C
e
falls to
about 0.2 at St k
s
of 1. It can be said, therefore, that St k
s
range
below 0.1 corresponds to the dilute condition. Fig. 8 shows the
change of concentration prole at 180

along with St k
s
whose
value is shown near the left-bottom corner of each gure. For
each particle size, the most left gure shows the prole at feed
concentration of 0.006 and the next gure shows another rep-
resentative prole in the dilute range, viz., St k
s
<0.1. It can
3722 S. Ookawara et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 61 (2006) 37143724
0.1
1
10
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10
10 m
15 m
20 m
C
e

[
-
]
Stk
s
[-]
Fig. 7. The dependency of concentration efciency on newly dened Stokes
number St k
s
.
0.013 0.099 0.297 0.483
0.003 0.086 0.339 0.429
0.038 0.058 0.293 0.467
(a)
(b)
(c)
Fig. 8. Change of concentration prole along with St k
s
whose value is
shown near left-bottom corner of each gure. Feed concentration values are
0.0006, 0.02, 0.10 and 0.15 for 10 m particle, 0.0006, 0.005, 0.02 and 0.05
for 15 m particle, and 0.0006, 0.001, 0.01 and 0.02 for 20 m particles,
respectively: (a) 10 m particle, (b) 15 m particle and (c) 20 m particle.
be seen that the concentration prole does not change practi-
cally in this St k
s
range. On the other hand, the concentrated
region apparently expands with the increase of St k
s
(>0.1).
The maximum particle concentrations over the cross-sectional
plane at St k
s
of 0.3 shown in Fig. 8 (third prole from left)
are 0.189, 0.096 and 0.059 for 10, 15 and 20 m particles, re-
spectively. It can be understood that despite the small particle
relaxation time and low-feed concentration the moderate St k
s
values occur partially because of the concentration effect and
mostly because of the extremely high shear rates, which are of
the order of 10
5
s
1
located around the concentrated regions.
In the moderate St k
s
range, the particles are dispersed by the
collisions and are entrained by the Dean vortices. Therefore the
concentration region spreads over the cross-section against the
lift force as shown in Fig. 8.
3.3. A design and operation strategy of a curved microchannel
microseparator/classier
The shape of the isolated regions predicted with the applica-
tion of the lift force model, where the concentration is higher
than the minimum subrange, indicated in blue, is nearly estab-
lished at about 30

for 15 and 20 m particles. The concentra-

tion proles continue to develop as shown in Figs. 4(d) and (e).
The ow split and resulting separation can be estimated by a
vertical line which passes through the cross-sectional area. The
part of the uid on the left-hand side of the line represents the
uid which will leave the separator through the outer bifurca-
tion channel and the part of the uid on the right-hand side of
the vertical line represents the uid which will leave through
the inner bifurcation channel. Therefore, if the ow split at the
bifurcation occurs inside the isolated regions high separation
efciency can be expected. In the case of the largest particle of
20 m, it can be seen that the inner edge of the isolated region
always exists outside the vertical center line of the channel in
the angular range above 30

. Therefore, it is expected that the

separation efciency is consistently high in this angular range.
For 15 m particles, the vertical center line crosses the green
subrange within the isolated regions in the angular range above
30

. Therefore, the separation efciency is also expected to be

consistent in this range, although it becomes lower than would
be obtained for 20 m particles. From a practical point of view
the curved section can be changed into an arc with a much
smaller angle, for instance, 30

without signicant loss of sep-

aration efciency. This change in design would considerably
decrease the pressure loss in the microchannel, thus reducing
the operating cost. For 10 m particles, the efciency is low be-
cause even at 180

the most concentrated region indicated by

the orange contours falls on both the left and right sides of the
vertical bifurcation line. In the angular range below 90

, more-
over, the yellow subranges spread to both sides of the vertical
center line and red and orange subranges cannot be seen. Sepa-
ration of 10 m particles can be expected at 180

, but not below

90

. It can be concluded that larger(>15 m) particles that are

well separated at 180

can also be separated at a much lower

angle, while smaller (10 m) particles whose separation ef-
ciency is moderate at 180

need the longer channel length to

attain the separation.
The radius of curvature is also an important parameter to
optimize the design since it affects the centrifugal force and
shear as well as the angle of curvature. Further, the aspect ratio
of cross-section could affect the intensity of Dean vortices.
Although the effect of these parameters should be examined in
future, it is beyond the scope of the present study.
The particle concentration proles at 180

in the present
study also suggest that the ow rate ratio of the outer to the
inner branch is an important design parameter. The change of
ow rate ratio corresponds to a shift of the ow split position
represented by a vertical line passing through the cross-section
in Fig. 4. To obtain a higher ratio, the ow should be split in-
side the vertical center line. This can be achieved by changing
the pressure losses in the two exhaust branches. If the length
of inner branch is extended or the width of the outer branch
is widened, the ow rate ratio split can be controlled for the
purpose described above. Due to the high mean velocity, viz.,
large inertia and the low secondary ow velocity, these alter-
native designs are not expected to change the ow, viz., parti-
cle concentration proles around the bifurcation provided that
same back-pressure is given in both branches. A slightly higher
S. Ookawara et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 61 (2006) 37143724 3723
ow rate ratio may result in higher separation efciency for the
15 m particles. Further, the separation efciency of 10 m par-
ticles is likely to be sensitive to the ow rate ratio. Therefore,
one should avoid this operating condition if a 10 m particle
size is to be separated.
It is theoretically and numerically shown in this study that the
concentration efciency of microseparator/classier decreases
with an increase of feed concentration in the dense range. On
the other hand, the concentration efciency remains unity, viz.,
highest in the dilute range. The dense range in terms of feed
concentration depends on the particle size and therefore the feed
concentration is not a convenient index to determine an appro-
priate operating condition. It is veried that the concentration
efciency can be correlated with a newly dened Stokes num-
ber (St k
s
) based on particle relaxation time and shear-induced
particle collision interval in a liquid laminar ow. The deni-
tion of St k
s
implies why the concentration efciency of larger
particles would be more easily affected by feed concentration.
Since the higher inertia of larger particles cause higher concen-
tration, viz., larger
p
due to larger lift force, the shear-induced
particle collision time
s
becomes rather small compared with
smaller particles at a given feed concentration and ow con-
dition. Since the particle relaxation time
p
is proportional to
the square of particle diameter, further, St k
s
is very sensitive
to particle diameter.
Although the concentration efciency rapidly decreases with
the increase of particle diameter at a given feed concentration,
there is a possibility that the separation efciency, which is
roughly estimated from the particle concentration in the outer
half-plane at the end of the semicircle section, would not be
affected so much by the diameter compared with the concen-
tration efciency. As shown in Fig. 8, for 20 m, the extent
of concentrated region is small enough to be located within
the outer half of the plane at St k
s
of 0.293. Even at St k
s
of
0.467 the spread beyond the half-plane is small. On the other
hand, the concentrated region of 15 m particle barely exists in
the outer half-plane and the expansion of concentrated region
with the increase of St k
s
can immediately affect the separation
efciency.
3.4. Future direction
As described in Numerical method, the Euler-granular mod-
eling requires several closure equations, which in their turn
involve different correlations and physical coefcients. Espe-
cially, the coefcients of lift force and restitution are expected
to affect the extent of the concentrated region at the equilib-
rium position, viz., where the particle concentration prole is
fully developed. The increase of lift force coefcient probably
results in the shrink of the concentrated region. To the contrary,
the increase of the restitution coefcient results in a rise of
solid pressure, viz., possibly the expansion of the concentrated
region as understood from Eq. (22). In this study, the most
common values are adopted for these coefcients, which gave
reasonable concentration proles corresponding to experimen-
tal results. This is because there is no lift force model that has
been validated in the extremely high shear rate and it is very
difcult to measure the restitution coefcient of microspheres,
respectively.
It is expected that regardless of closure equations and physi-
cal coefcients the consistent results can be obtained since the
most common and widely accepted closure equations reason-
ably give the consistent correlations between parameters even
with acceptable differences. Therefore, rather than the precise
sensitivity of the results to the correlations and coefcients for
lift force and solid pressure as well as to the drag force model
and so on, the practical application of understanding and knowl-
edge of the microseparator/classier obtained in this study is
of further importance in the subsequent study.
Based on these results and discussions, it can be concluded
that the present numerical work brings further understanding
on how to design and operate a microseparator/classier whose
main part is a curved microchannel. Further, the quantitative
validation is indispensable for the practical optimization of the
device based on the Euler-granular modeling with the applica-
tion of the lift force model.
4. Conclusions
The present study numerically examines the development of
particle concentration proles and the effect of feed concentra-
tion over cross-sectional planes through a series of angular po-
sitions in a curved microchannel, which is the functional part of
a microseparator/classier (Ookawara et al., 2004a). The parti-
cle concentration proles bring about an understanding of how
particles are concentrated near the outer wall and can be sepa-
rated by a bifurcation at the end of the semicircular section. The
larger particles to be separated cannot be transported inward by
the Dean vortices since the lift force prevents the entrainment
of the particles near the upper and lower walls as a result of
extremely high shear rates. On the other hand, smaller particles
are not affected by the lift force due to the small slip velocity
and are subsequently dispersed over the channel. As a result
separation cannot be achieved by a bifurcation for smaller par-
ticles. The concentration proles also suggest that the semicir-
cular section can be much shorter, possibly an arc with an angle
as short as 30

, with the similar separation efciency. Further,

it is also implied that the ow rate ratio of the outer to the inner
branches is an important operating parameter of a microsep-
arator/classier inuencing the separation behavior, especially
for particle sizes with only moderate separation efciency.
It is shown that the concentration efciency decreases with
an increase of feed concentration in the dense range while it re-
mains at unity in the dilute range. Since the onset of the dense
range depends on the particle size, in terms of feed concen-
tration, a new Stokes number (St k
s
) is dened in this study,
which is ratio of particle relaxation time to shear induced parti-
cle collision interval. The concentration efciency can be well
correlated with St k
s
regardless of particle size. In the dilute
particle concentration range the particle motion is controlled
by the uid force (drag and lift) while for a dense ow it is one
in which the particle motion is controlled by collisions (Crowe
et al., 1997). Since the higher St k
s
results in the decrease of
3724 S. Ookawara et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 61 (2006) 37143724
the concentration efciency and the expansion of concentrated
region over the cross-sectional plane, it can be understood that
particle collision is a negative factor for the performance of the
microseparator/classier.
These design and operating strategies should be quantita-
tively validated by experiments in future.
Acknowledgments
This research was partially supported by a Grant-in-Aid for
Scientic Research (A) (No. 17206079) from the Japan Society
for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).
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