The goal of this study is to characterize the mixing that occurs in a microfluidic chip. To characterize the mixing, the minimum length to complete mixing and evolution of mixing will be investigated. There are two types of mixing that occur within a microfluidic channel, diffusion and advection. In the beginning of the microfluidic chip, diffusion is the dominant form of mixing, and in the later portion of the microfluidic chip advection is the dominant form of mixing. The type of design used for this experiment was a zig zag geometry microfluidic chip with channel dimensions of 60 µm X 500 µm X 522 mm. The minimum length for complete mixing was 361 ± 3.475 µm at a flow rate of 25 mL/hr. The mixing was measured using optical light microscopy. For all flow rates less than 20 mL/hr the flow rate was too low to mix the two fluids. The pressure produced by the 30 mL/hr flow rate caused the microfluidic chip to fail.
","abstract_html":"<p>The goal of this study is to characterize the mixing that occurs in a microfluidic chip. To characterize the mixing, the minimum length to complete mixing and evolution of mixing will be investigated. There are two types of mixing that occur within a microfluidic channel, diffusion and advection. In the beginning of the microfluidic chip, diffusion is the dominant form of mixing, and in the later portion of the microfluidic chip advection is the dominant form of mixing. The type of design used for this experiment was a zig zag geometry microfluidic chip with channel dimensions of 60 µm X 500 µm X 522 mm. The minimum length for complete mixing was 361 ± 3.475 µm at a flow rate of 25 mL/hr. The mixing was measured using optical light microscopy. For all flow rates less than 20 mL/hr the flow rate was too low to mix the two fluids. The pressure produced by the 30 mL/hr flow rate caused the microfluidic chip to fail.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Harley, Brian Eric"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"MS in Engineering - Materials Engineering","degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":"Materials Engineering","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Richard Savage"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2012,"date_issued":"2012-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2012-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:32:29Z","subjects":["Microfluidic chip","diffusion","advection","laminar","turbulent","softlithography","Engineering","Materials Science and Engineering","Other Materials Science and Engineering"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["10.15368/theses.2012.2"],"render_values":[{"text":"10.15368/theses.2012.2","href":"https://doi.org/10.15368/theses.2012.2","code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/683","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Richard Savage"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Harley, Brian Eric"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2012-01-27T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Materials Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["MS in Engineering - Materials Engineering"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Microfluidic chip","diffusion","advection","laminar","turbulent","softlithography","Engineering","Materials Science and Engineering","Other Materials Science and Engineering"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/683","10.15368/theses.2012.2"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The goal of this study is to characterize the mixing that occurs in a microfluidic chip. To characterize the mixing, the minimum length to complete mixing and evolution of mixing will be investigated. There are two types of mixing that occur within a microfluidic channel, diffusion and advection. In the beginning of the microfluidic chip, diffusion is the dominant form of mixing, and in the later portion of the microfluidic chip advection is the dominant form of mixing. The type of design used for this experiment was a zig zag geometry microfluidic chip with channel dimensions of 60 µm X 500 µm X 522 mm. The minimum length for complete mixing was 361 ± 3.475 µm at a flow rate of 25 mL/hr. The mixing was measured using optical light microscopy. For all flow rates less than 20 mL/hr the flow rate was too low to mix the two fluids. The pressure produced by the 30 mL/hr flow rate caused the microfluidic chip to fail.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Characterization of Mixing in a T-style Microfluidic Chip"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Richard Savage"],"dc:creator":["Harley, Brian Eric"],"dc:date.available":["2012-01-27T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["The goal of this study is to characterize the mixing that occurs in a microfluidic chip. To characterize the mixing, the minimum length to complete mixing and evolution of mixing will be investigated. There are two types of mixing that occur within a microfluidic channel, diffusion and advection. In the beginning of the microfluidic chip, diffusion is the dominant form of mixing, and in the later portion of the microfluidic chip advection is the dominant form of mixing. The type of design used for this experiment was a zig zag geometry microfluidic chip with channel dimensions of 60 µm X 500 µm X 522 mm. The minimum length for complete mixing was 361 ± 3.475 µm at a flow rate of 25 mL/hr. The mixing was measured using optical light microscopy. For all flow rates less than 20 mL/hr the flow rate was too low to mix the two fluids. The pressure produced by the 30 mL/hr flow rate caused the microfluidic chip to fail.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/683","10.15368/theses.2012.2"],"dc:subject":["Microfluidic chip","diffusion","advection","laminar","turbulent","softlithography","Engineering","Materials Science and Engineering","Other Materials Science and Engineering"],"dc:title":["Characterization of Mixing in a T-style Microfluidic Chip"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Materials Engineering"],"thesis:degree_name":["MS in Engineering - Materials Engineering"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:32:29Z"}