Studies on the evaporation induced acoustic emissions from 3D-printed bio-inspired microfluidic vessels
T.J. Bieling (TU Delft - Mechanical Engineering)
Satadal Dutta – Coach (TU Delft - Dynamics of Micro and Nano Systems)
G.J. Verbiest – Mentor (TU Delft - Dynamics of Micro and Nano Systems)
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Abstract
Evaporation can induce acoustic emissions in microfluidic devices. The origin of these emissions and their damping remains elusive. This thesis studies acoustic emissions from 3D printed microfluidic tubes mimicking xylem vessels in plants. We show the time and frequency domain signature of these emissions. From these signatures, we identify three types of acoustic pulses. While the source of the first type remains elusive, the second type originates from our evaporative membrane and the third from slower events like microcracking. By varying the vessel's geometry, we observe that its frequency shifts down with increasing vessel radius and length for the second pulse type. We confirmed this behaviour using numerical simulations of the vessel. These findings provide new insights into evaporation induced acoustic emissions from microfluidic devices and, due to their similar morphology, xylem vessels in plants.