Numerical Investigation of Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) Interacting with a Droplet for Point-of-Care Devices

Abstract

A three-dimensional numerical simulation of the interaction of a surface acoustic wave (SAW) with a droplet of water is carried out. The mixing produced inside the droplet due to the incident with the SAW and the droplet is investigated by undertaking a parametric study, with parameters such as frequency, drop size, and the lateral position of the droplet on the surface of the substrate. The linear relationship between the input voltage and the mixing velocity inside the droplet is obtained with variation of the input voltage of the inter-digital transducer (IDT) of the SAW device within a 10–40 V range. With the variation in frequency, the maximum mixing velocity is observed at 20 MHz and it appears to be independent of the size of the droplet. Varying the substrate material with lead zirconate titanate and lithium niobate produces better mixing. Lithium niobate is preferred due to its availability and cost-effectiveness. A drop of 600 μm diameter produces better mixing. The different velocities inside the drop and the SAW device are obtained by changing the droplet position in the lateral direction (asymmetrical position) from the centre of the substrate. Cut planes parallel and perpendicular to the SAW at the core of a half-spherical droplet are observed to visualise the mixing effects inside the droplet during the interaction. To achieve the best mixing criteria, the droplet is moved in a lateral direction. An efficient parametric design for the mixing phenomena in micro-fluidic devices is presented for point-of-care devices.