Micro-PIV measurements for hydrodynamic characterizations of microfluidic flows

The application presented in this paper is based on a non-invasive method for velocity measurement in microchannels. The investigation focuses on the separation phenomena and the manifestations of vortical structures in a Y-bifurcation with a square cross-section. A micro-PIV measurement system is used to obtain velocity profiles distributions in the primary flow domain and in the secondary ones (vortex zones). The experimental data is compared to numerical simulations performed with FLUENT™ code in 3D geometries. Calculated flow patterns are found to be consistent with experiment manifestations, offering useful insights on the vortical structures in the analysed applications.