UB - University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

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Microfluidic approaches are proving to be very useful for shedding new insights into multiphase hydrodynamics in confined systems, including formation of designer emulsions and studies of cellular-scale hydrodynamics. I will briefly survey several multiphase microfluidic contributions from my group, including formation of emulsions, janus particles, and hydrodynamic influences on red blood cells. I will then present in a little more detail two specific problems. First, it was recently shown in microfluidic experiments that drops can be forced to coalescence in a channel flow that causes separation of the drops (Bremond et al., Physical Review Letters 2008). We use a lubrication model of the local dynamics to study this system and so arrive at an analytical criterion for conditions that support near contact of the drops. Second, we use a microfluidic approach to experimentally study shear-enhanced dispersion of disk-shaped particles. We analyze the transport process, and obtain experimental results for the concentration dependence of the shear-enhanced dispersion coefficient over a wide range of shear rates.