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Abstract
Experimental investigations are reported for air–water two-phase flow through a 2.1-mm horizontal circular minichannel. Influence of inlet premixing on two-phase flow is established by constructing various T-junction geometries with cross-flow arrangement of air and water. Six different flow patterns are observed and flow pattern maps are developed. The developed flow pattern maps are then compared for different inlet designs. It is observed that the degree of premixing of the two fluids has significant effect on flow patterns, particularly for surface-tension-dominated regime. The results obtained from these experiments can provide guidelines for selection, design, and control of wide-ranging microfluidic applications. The flow pattern map established in the present study may facilitate prediction of flow regimes in pulsating heat pipes based on the inlet flow rates of the gas and liquid.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors acknowledge the authorities of the Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, for providing financial support for the development of the Advanced Fluid Dynamics Lab where these minichannel-based experiments were conducted.
NOMENCLATURE
| Bo | = | Bond number |
| Ca | = | Capillary number |
| CAP | = | cross-flow air flows parallel to the main channel |
| CWP | = | cross-flow water flows parallel to the main channel |
| d | = | channel internal diameter, mm |
| g | = | gravitational acceleration, m/s2 |
| L | = | length of the observation section from inlet junction, mm |
| Lbubble | = | gas bubble length, mm |
| LPM | = | liters per minute |
| ReSG | = | superficial gas Reynolds number |
| ReSL | = | superficial liquid Reynolds number |
| TJ | = | T-junction |
| USG | = | superficial gas velocity |
| USL | = | superficial liquid velocity |
| WeSG | = | superficial gas Weber number |
| WeSL | = | superficial liquid Weber number |
Greek Symbols
| μ | = | dynamic viscosity, Pa-s |
| ρ | = | density, kg/m3 |
| σ | = | surface tension, N/m |
Subscripts
| G | = | gas phase |
| L | = | liquid phase |
| SG | = | superficial gas phase |
| SL | = | superficial liquid phase |
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Hemant B. Mehta
Hemant B. Mehta is an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, India. His broad research area is fluid flow and heat transfer in microscale systems. He received his B.Tech. and M.Tech. degrees in mechanical engineering from the S. V. National Institute of Technology at Gujarat and is pursuing his doctoral study on isothermal gas-liquid two-phase flow through mini- and microchannels.
Jyotirmay Banerjee
Jyotirmay Banerjee received his Ph.D. in 2005 from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India. He is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology Surat, India. He has authored a monograph entitled Czochralski Growth of Oxide Crystals: Numerical Simulations and Experiments published by Tech Science Press, USA, and a book entitled Conduction and Radiation published by Narosa Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., India. His research interests include multiphase and multicomponent flow and heat transfer.