Investigations on Attenuation of Lamb Waves in Droplet Actuation

In droplet actuation, Lamb waves are utilized to manipulate and control liquid droplets on solid surfaces. This paper presents an analytical model for driving droplets using Lamb waves (a type of surface acoustic wave) on a non-piezoelectric substrate. The driving of droplets is simulated using the level set two-phase flow method, and the obtained data are validated through corresponding experiments. The simulation and experimental data are therefore combined to calculate and verify the attenuation of Lamb waves in droplet actuation. The research findings indicate that the droplets absorb the maximum amount of Lamb wave energy when their volume is 50 µL, and at this point, the Lamb wave experiences the fastest attenuation.