Pressure-driven dynamics of liquid plugs in rectangular microchannels: influence of the transition between quasi-static and dynamic film deposition regimes

In this paper, we study experimentally and theoretically the dynamics of liquid plugs in rectangular microchannels for both unidirectional and cyclic pressure forcing. In both cases, it is shown that the transition between quasi-static and dynamic film deposition behind the liquid plug leads to a dramatic acceleration of the plug, rapidly leading to its rupture. This behaviour proper to channels with sharp corners is recovered from a reduced dimension model based on previous theoretical and numerical developments. In addition, it is shown for cyclic periodic forcing that the plug undergoes stable periodic oscillations if it remains in the quasi-static film deposition regime during the first cycle, while otherwise it accelerates cyclically and ruptures. The transition between these two regimes occurs at a pressure-dependent critical initial length, whose value can be predicted theoretically.