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New Study Unveils Phase Synchronization of Fluid-Fluid Interfaces as Hydrodynamically Coupled Oscillators
The phenomenon of synchronization is found in many natural and artificial systems, from firefly flashing to the synchronization of two pendulum clocks hanging from a wall.
Hydrodynamic interactions also play a role in synchronized motions of coupled oscillators in fluids. Therefore, understanding the mechanism will facilitate development of applications in fluid mechanics. For example, synchronization phenomenon in two-phase flow will benefit the design of future microfluidic devices, allowing spatiotemporal control of microdroplet generation without additional integration of control elements, according to the research team.
Professor Joonwoo Jeong and his research team in the Department of Physics at UNIST discovered that the system can act as a coupled oscillator, notably showing spontaneous in-phase synchronization of droplet breakup, using a characteristic oscillation of adjacent interfaces between two immiscible fluids in a microfluidic platform.