Suresh Alapati, Dolfred Vijay Fernandes and Yong Kweon Suh*
The Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology, vol. 25, no. 6, pp.1495-1499, 2011

Abstract : This paper presents a numerical study on the enhancement of mixing within a micro cavity by use of transient induced-charge electroosmotic flows created by a periodic on-off-switching of the electric field applied across a pair of electrodes. For the first time, we demonstrate that the electro-osmotic flows observed during the charging and decharging stages are not symmetric with respect to each other and can lead to a chaotic mixing. Lyapunov exponents and particle scattering patterns are obtained for the symptom of the chaotic advection at various external fields.

Keyword : Mixing enhancement; Transient induced-charge electro-osmotic flow; Micro cavity; Lyapunov exponent; Particle scattering; Chaotic mixing