PHYSICAL REVIEW E 89, 013003 (2014)

Effect of the fluid injection configuration on droplet size in a microfluidic T junction

Odile Carrier, Denis Funfschilling,* and Huai Z. Li

Laboratoire Réactions et Génie des Procédés, Université de Lorraine, CNRS, 1 rue Grandville, Boı̂te Postale 20451, 54001 Nancy, France
(Received 14 March 2013; revised manuscript received 19 November 2013; published 7 January 2014)
The effect of confinement on the droplet formation in T junctions was studied for three configurations of
fluid injection. The sizes of the main droplets and the satellite droplets were measured in the squeezing and
dripping regimes. The evolution of droplet sizes with capillary number in the continuous phase is similar to that
in flow-focusing junctions, i.e., the size of the main droplets decreases with an increase of this capillary number,
while the size of the satellite droplets increases with an increase of this capillary number. While in the range of
flow rates investigated the injection configuration does not exhibit a significant effect on the main droplet sizes,
it does have an effect on the size of the satellite droplets. The latter ones are smaller when the neck rupture of the
droplet occurs on an angle of the microsystem.

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.89.013003 PACS number(s): 47.61.Jd, 47.61.Fg

I. INTRODUCTION provides an opportunity to sort them out [19]. In emulsions

Two phase flows and in particular droplet manipulations
play a main role in microfluidic systems. Indeed, the
formation of droplets in microsystems finds wide applications
in analysis and screening, for example, each droplet behaving
as a microreactor independent from the preceding and
following droplets [1,2]. Droplets are, moreover, easy to
manipulate and it is easier to control their properties (size,
size distribution, temperature, residence time, etc.) [3].
Droplets formed in microfluidic systems are also usually
monodispersed, which makes them interesting for improving
emulsification processes [4].
Microfluidic droplet production consists of introducing two
immiscible fluids in a channel with a more or less complex
geometry. Three main geometries were extensively studied for
the past decade: coflowing, flow focusing, and T junctions [5].
The geometry is a key factor for the formation of droplets. The
choice of the geometry determines the range of flow rates over
which droplets are monodispersed [6]. The first studies on T
junctions date back to the early 2000’s [7]. Nowadays, studies
in T junctions focus on understanding rupture mechanisms
of droplets and bubbles, on establishing diagrams for flow
regimes [8], often with numerical simulations [9–12], or by
measuring experimentally the flow fields around the droplet
in formation [13]. Wettability also has an influence on
the formation of bubbles and droplets in T junctions. Appro-
priate wall treatments can change the size of droplets and the
regime of the droplets’ formation [14]. The T junction can also
be used to break down large droplets into precisely controlled
daughter droplets [15].
Sometimes, the generation of droplets in microsystems
leads to the formation of one or several satellite droplets
besides the main droplet [16–18]. The formation of such
satellite droplets has not been often studied in flow-focusing
or T junction microsystems. While they can be sorted out to
obtain really small droplets, their formation could give rise to
some problems, in particular, processes such as emulsification.
The path taken by droplets in microsystems depends on
their size, especially in complex structured systems, and this
*
Corresponding author: denis.funfschilling@univ-lorraine.fr
such satellite droplets could probably disappear due to Ostwald
ripening. They could also accumulate in structured microsys-
tems, leading to flow perturbations. Their formation during
two-step emulsification in T junctions [20] could also lead to a
faster aging of double emulsions. Obviously, it is important to
understand their formation mechanisms and related parameters
influencing their sizes to control or avoid their formation.
Three possible configurations for fluids injection exist in
T junctions: perpendicular flow, opposite flow, and inversed
flow (Fig. 1). Most of the time, only one configuration was
used and no comparison between different configurations has
been made in the literature. Perpendicular flow and inversed
flow were compared but the formation of satellites was not
observed or studied [6]. The symmetric breakup was studied
for bubbles without the formation of satellites [21]. According
to [4], droplet formation in a T junction obeys the scaling law
d ∝ Ca−1 c for droplets whose diameter is less than the height of
the microchannel, and d ∝ Ca−0.3c otherwise. The intersection
of these scaling laws is not exactly located where the diameter
is equal to the height of the channel, but is located at Cac ≈
10−1 . In Ref. [4], only the perpendicular-flow configuration
was studied.
In the present work, the formation of droplets in T junction
was experimentally investigated for the three configurations of
fluid injections. The influence of the capillary number in the
continuous phase on the size of main and satellite droplets was
determined, showing the effect of confinement on these two
kinds of droplets.
II. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
Microfluidic devices. The microfluidic T junctions were
manufactured by precision milling in polymethylmethacrylate
(PMMA). All channels have a 300 μm square cross sec-
tion. Continuous and dispersed phases were delivered from
glass syringes (Gastight Syringes, Hamilton, Switzerland),
by syringe pumps (Harvard Apparatus, PHD 2000 Infusion,
USA) through flexible Teflon tubing. All experiments were
conducted at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. The
three possible configurations of fluid injection were studied.
Materials. The dispersed phase was silicon oil (Dow
Corning, USA). Its density was 0.913 g/cm3 and its viscosity

1539-3755/2014/89(1)/013003(6) 013003-1 ©2014 American Physical Society

ODILE CARRIER, DENIS FUNFSCHILLING, AND HUAI Z. LI
FIG. 1. Injection of fluid configuration: (a) perpendicular flow;
(b) opposite flow; (c) inversed flow.
measured by capillary viscosimetry was 5 mPa s−1 at 20 °C.
The continuous phase was an aqueous solution of 2 wt %
sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS, Amresco, USA) as surfactant.
An interfacial tension of 10 mN m−1 between the silicon oil and
the aqueous surfactant solution was measured by the pendant
drop method (Tracker S, Teclis, France). The contact angle of
a drop of distilled water+2% SDS surrounded by silicon oil
on Plexiglas is 101°. A drop of silicon oil surrounded by a
distilled water+2% SDS solution does not wet the Plexiglas.
The flow rate of the continuous phase was varied between
Qc = 10 and 2000 μl min−1 and the flow rate of the dispersed
phase ranged from Qd = 2 to 100 μl min−1 ; these correspond
to a formation of droplets in the squeezing and dripping regime.
The flow rate ratios (continuous phase over dispersed phase
flow rates) are between 0.5 and 100. Previous studies [21]
(confirmed by our experiments), have shown that the dispersed
phase flow rate has little effect on the size of the main and
satellite droplets, compared to the continuous flow rate.
Imaging. Devices were placed on an inverted microscope
(10×) (Leica, Germany) and illuminated with a cold fiber light
(Schott, KL1500) located on the opposite side of the channel.
A high-speed digital camera (CamRecord 600, Optronis,
Germany) was used to visualize the formation of droplets in
the T junctions. The frame rate was between 50 and 2000 fps
and the shutter speed 1/12 500 s. The full resolution of the
camera was 1280 × 800 pixels.
The volume of droplets was determined by image analysis
using MATLAB and assuming the cylindrical symmetry of
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PHYSICAL REVIEW E 89, 013003 (2014)
FIG. 2. (a)–(f) Formation of droplets in a T junction for the
perpendicular-flow configuration (Qc = 100 μl min−1 ; Qd = 4 μl
min−1 ); (g) main droplet and its satellite (Qc = 300 μl min−1 ; Qd =
20 μl min−1 ).
droplets along the axis of symmetry of the outlet channel.
Each image was divided by the mean image of the sequence
(mean image of more than a hundred images). The divided
image was then converted into a binary image on which
the pixels constituting the droplets were counted. Droplets
were constituted of at least a dozen pixels. The dimensionless
droplet volumes given in the following parts are the volume of
the droplets normalized by the volume of the intersection of
the channels.
A microparticle image velocimetry technique (μPIV, Dan-
tec Dynamics, Denmark) was employed to measure the flow
fields in the continuous phase. The aqueous continuous phase
was seeded with latex particles of 1.01 μm diameter (Merck,
France). The influence of seeding particles on the interfacial
tension was negligible (the measured difference was less than
0.3 mN m−1 ). The flow was illuminated by a Nd:YAG pulsed
laser (DualPower 30-15) of 532 nm wavelength. Flow fields
were measured in the horizontal plane of symmetry of the
microfluidic device.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The formation of the droplets in the classical configuration
of the T junctions (see Fig. 2) was described by [8]. The
finger of the dispersed phase entered into the intersection,
filled up [Figs. 2(a)–2(d)], and elongated until its detachment
following the neck shrinking [Fig. 2(e)]. A recent work [22]
has confirmed the plugging during the droplet formation by in
situ pressure measurements. These measurements validate the
squeezing mechanism given previously. As already observed
in the flow-focusing junction [18,23], a satellite droplet was
formed just after the main droplet [Fig. 2(g)] for the three
configurations of fluid injection. This satellite resulted from the
rupture of the neck, which was pinched at both extremities.
A. Size of the main droplets
In all three configurations of fluid injection, oil droplets
were formed in distilled water+2% SDS (the concentration
of SDS surfactant in the aqueous phase is then ten times
the critical micellar concentration). The evolution of the
dimensionless volume of the main droplets Vg /a 3 is presented
EFFECT OF THE FLUID INJECTION CONFIGURATION . . . PHYSICAL REVIEW E 89, 013003 (2014)

continuous-phase and dispersed-phase flow rate, the droplets

were almost monodispersed. The polydispersity index [24]
was defined as
0
10
Ip = 100δ/d̄, (1)
with δ the standard deviation of the droplet diameter and d̄ the
2
average droplet diameter. This polydispersity index was quite
Vg/a3

low for the three configurations (average Ip is between 1.5 and

1.5
−1
3.3) which is in agreement with the literature regarding droplet
10
1
formation in microfluidic T junctions. The size distribution is
thus really narrow and droplets are highly monodispersed.
0.5 The configuration of fluid injection does not have an
influence on the main droplet formation. This first observation
0 differs from what [6] observed for perpendicular-flow and
−2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
10
−3 −2 −1 0
inversed-flow configurations. It is, however, possible that
10 10 10 10
Cac this difference comes from the material configuration of the
microsystem. The microchannels used for their study had a
−1
10
0.02 mixed material: The bottom plate was in glass and the other
three walls were in polydimethylsiloxane. These were treated
0.015 to be highly hydrophobic. In our case, four walls are in the
same materials and PMMA has a mixed affinity for silicon
0.01
10
−2 oil and aqueous solution, even if this affinity is higher for the
0.005
aqueous solution due to the presence of surfactant in great
excess. In our microsystem, by switching the continuous and
/a3
sat

0 the dispersed phases and accordingly treating the walls to be

V

0 0.2 0.4 0.6

10
−3
−4
10
10
−3
10
−2
10
−1
10
0
Ca
c
FIG. 3. (Color online) Evolution of the dimensionless droplets
volume (droplet volume normalized by the volume of the junction)
with the capillary number of the continuous phase for the three
configurations of fluid injection. (a) Main droplets; the horizontal
dotted line corresponds to the limit of confinement, i.e., the largest
possible round droplet that exactly touches all walls. The solid line
corresponds to the model given in [24]. (b) Satellite droplets for
Cad = 1.3 × 10−3 (+) perpendicular flow; (◦) opposite flow; ()
inversed flow. Error bars correspond to the standard deviation of the
measurements.
in Fig. 3(a) in a function of the capillary number in continuous
phase Cac = (μv) /σ with μ the viscosity of the continuous
phase, v the average velocity of the continuous phase, and σ
the interfacial tension between both phases. As the fluids are
the same for the three configurations, an evolution of Cac is
equivalent to an evolution of the continuous phase flow rate.
For the three configurations, droplets of the same mean
volume were obtained and the similar evolution of the volume
with the capillary number in the continuous phase was
observed. The slight dispersion of experimental data at a
constant capillary number came mainly from the different
flow rates of the dispersed phase. In the range of flow rates
studied, the influence of the dispersed flow rate was really low
in comparison with the influence of the continuous flow rate,
which is why we did not focus on this parameter. For a given
hydrophobic (Aquapel treatment), the tip streaming regime
was reached very quickly because of the important shear stress
forces applied by the viscous continuous oil phase on the tip.
As a result, the range of Cac where satellite droplets were
created was too limited to be significant and it was not possible
to compare these results with ours.
For the three configurations, the droplet volume decreases
with increasing capillary number (i.e., the flow rate of the
continuous phase increases in our case) but two different
behaviors in different ranges of capillary numbers could be
distinguished. For Cac < 10−1 , the decrease of the volume
was relatively slow. The decrease was more abrupt when
Cac > 10−1 . The following correlations were obtained:

Vg 3.510−1 Ca−0.3 for Cac  10−1
= c
−1.2 . (2)
a3 4.310−2 Cac for Cac  10−1
Several authors have studied the evolution of the volume
of the droplet in the function of the capillary number. Liu and
Zhang found a scaling V ≈ Ca−0.78 [25]. By lattice-Boltzmann
simulations, van der Graaf found a scaling V ≈ Ca−0.75 [11],
and De Menech found a scaling as V ≈ Ca−1.2 in the dripping
regime [9]. Other publications express a nondimensional
volume in the form of 1 + α Q d
Qc
where Qd is the dispersed flow
rate, and Qc the continuous flow rate [8,24]. In [26], the authors
give a model which in our geometrical conditions corresponds
to Vg /a 3 = 0.841 + 1.18Qd /Qc , which is represented in
Fig. 3(a) for the lowest dispersed phase flow rate. If we consider
that the volume of the droplet depends only weakly on Qd , we
can obtain a scaling law V ≈ Ca−1 , which is in reasonable
agreement with our results.
The confinement of the droplet can be considered as a
parameter that influences the droplet size through the presence
of walls near the droplet in formation. The droplet does not
“touch” the wall when its diameter is lower than the width
of the channel. This threshold between such a droplet and

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ODILE CARRIER, DENIS FUNFSCHILLING, AND HUAI Z. LI PHYSICAL REVIEW E 89, 013003 (2014)

a droplet whose diameter is above the width of the channel

corresponds to
Vg π
3
= ≈ 0.52. (3)
a 6

This induces the change in evolution of droplet volume

presented in Fig. 3(a) (dashed line). So, the transition between
various size evolutions corresponds then to a change of
confinement: If the droplet is not confined, its size decreases
faster with the capillary number than if it is confined. When
the droplet diameter is higher than the width of the channel,
walls have an effect on the rupture. With increasing flow rate of
the continuous phase, this parameter dominates the formation
mechanism of the droplets over the wall effects.
These results are in agreement with the scaling laws
observed by [4]. A slight difference was observed for the
smaller droplets (power index of −1.2 instead of −1) but
the order of magnitude was the same and the range of flow
rates studied was slightly higher. The value obtained by these
authors can be then extended to the three configurations of
fluid injection in T junctions studied here and not only to the
perpendicular-flow configuration.

B. Size of satellite droplets

As seen in Fig. 2(g), a satellite droplet was formed after the
main one in these T junctions. Figure 3(b) presents the evolu-
tion of the dimensionless volume of satellite droplets formed
after the main droplet. While there is no difference of main
droplet volume between the three injection configurations, the
volumes of satellite droplets differ from each other.
First of all, the polydispersity index for the satellite
droplet was higher than that of the main droplets. For the
three configurations the average Ip was between 10 and 14.
However, it is worth mentioning that the determination of
the size of the satellites is less accurate than for the main
droplets because of the smaller number of pixels occupied by
the satellite.
The evolution of the size of the satellite droplets is similar in
the three configurations as in flow-focusing junctions [23]: It
hardly evolves when Cac  Cacrit = 10−2 and then the satellite
size increases with Cac when Cac  Cacrit = 10−2 : FIG. 4. (Color online) Velocity fields in the continuous phase
 −2
measured just before the rupture of a droplet in the T junction in
Vsat
∝ K α for Cac  Cacrit = 10−2 , (4) the perpendicular-flow configuration: (a) Qc = 100 μl min−1 , Qd =
a3
Ca
K Cacrit
c
for Cac  Cacrit = 10 10 μl min−1 ; (b) Qc = 900 μl min−1 , Qd = 10 μl min−1 .

with K a constant. In flow-focusing junctions, K depends

only on the fluid properties (viscosity, interfacial tension). In
T junctions it appears to depend on the configurations of fluid
injection. For the perpendicular-flow configuration K = 2.5 ×
10−4 and for the inversed-flow configuration, K = 7.5 × 10−4 .
The power index α is around 1. The critical capillary number
of 10−2 , which corresponds to this transition, is the classical
critical value that was observed in T junctions [9]. Above
this value, shear stress plays an increasing role in the breakup
process due to the velocity of the continuous phase.
The shape of the curve of the satellite droplets volume
is very little influenced by the flow rate ratio in the range
of flow rates studied. Indeed, when the flow rate of the
dispersed phase is 2 or 20 μl min−1 for constant continuous
flow rate, i.e., for tenfold flow rate ratios, the same two-step
evolution of the satellite droplet size is observed. This result is
consistent with the numerical simulations of [25]. Flow fields
measured in the continuous phase are illustrated in Figs. 4(a)
and 4(b) for different continuous phase capillary numbers
for the perpendicular-flow configuration, respectively, for
Cac  Cacrit = 10−2 and Cac  Cacrit = 10−2 . Flow patterns
are clearly different in both cases. At low flow rates just before
the rupture, the continuous phase flow is directed towards the
neck of the droplet reinforcing the effect of the presence of
an angle. The dispersed phase plugs the exit channel, leading
thus to a marked rupture on the neck. At high flow rates, the
flow before the rupture exerts significant shear stresses on the

013003-4
EFFECT OF THE FLUID INJECTION CONFIGURATION . . .
FIG. 5. Step of droplet formation just before rupture for the three
configurations of fluid injection: (a) perpendicular flow; (b) opposite
flow; (c) inversed flow.
forming droplet. These shear stresses prevent the droplet from
occupying the whole section of the junction, leading thus to
such a rupture, slightly shifted downstream in comparison with
the rupture at lower flow rates.
This evolution is similar to that observed in a flow-focusing
junction [23] for PMMA microsystems and silicon glass
treated to be hydrophobic systems. These systems have
different wetting properties towards both fluids. However, the
evolution of the size of satellite droplets is the same: even at
low capillary number, the wetting properties of the wall do
not affect the evolution of the satellite droplet size, contrary to
shear stresses and inertia.
Concerning the configuration of fluid injection, satellite
droplets have the same size for perpendicular- and opposite-
flow configurations while the satellites are bigger (five times
for low capillary numbers) in the inversed-flow configura-
tion. This difference comes from the difference of rupture
mechanisms leading to the satellite droplet between these
configurations. The size of the satellite depends on the flow rate
as well as on the rupture mechanism. For the perpendicular-
and opposite-flow configuration, the rupture occurs on an
angle of the microfluidic system [see, respectively, Figs. 5(a)
and 5(b)]. For the inversed-flow configuration, the rupture is
longitudinal and the neck does not properly touch the channel’s
walls when the rupture takes place [Fig. 5(c)]. To some extent,
the rupture mechanism in this configuration is comparable to
that in the flow-focusing geometry.
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PHYSICAL REVIEW E 89, 013003 (2014)
At low values of capillary number, the neck is pressed
against an angle whose presence contributes to facilitate the
rupture, limiting then the development of the neck and the
size of the satellite droplet. This latter one is thus smaller
than for the inversed-flow configuration. When the capillary
number increases, we saw previously that the rupture is
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The shift of the rupture brings a longitudinal rupture for the
three configurations.
IV. CONCLUSION
The influence of fluid injection on the size of the main
and satellite droplets was experimentally investigated for the
three possible configurations in a T junction microchannel
of square cross section. The configuration does not have a
significant influence on the size of the main droplet, but
the confinement of the droplet determines its size. On the
contrary, the configuration of fluid injection shows an effective
influence on the size of the satellite droplet. It is interpreted as
the effect of the presence of the angle of the system on which
the rupture can occur: The size of the satellite is smaller. If the
rupture is longitudinal, the satellite is bigger (inversed-flow
configuration). When the capillary number increases, the
difference between the configurations vanishes: The shear
stresses applied by the continuous phase lead to a longitudinal
rupture for all configurations.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The French Ministère de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de
la Recherche is gratefully acknowledged for the financial
support.
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