Abstract
An experimental investigation of water flow through an aluminum rectangular microchannel with a hydraulic diameter of 169 μm was conducted over a Reynolds number (based upon mean velocity and hydraulic diameter) range from 230 to 4,740. Pressure measurements were simultaneously acquired at eight different axial locations within the channel along with pressure measurements in the inlet and outlet ports. The 27 μm pressure taps were more densely packed near the channel entrance in order to study the developing flow region. The average Poiseuille number for laminar flows was 86.4, which is in excellent agreement with the theoretical value of 86.9. The average critical Reynolds number was found to be 2,370. The limited turbulent friction factor data were in good agreement with the Haaland equation. The inlet to the channel was not well rounded and pressure distributions near the channel entrance show a region of pressure recovery. Entrance length and some minor loss coefficient data were not in agreement with theory, but the cause of these deviations were primarily a function of the inlet geometry and pressure recovery in the microchannel rather than a microscale effect.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Astarita G, Greco G (1968) Excess pressure drop in laminar flow through sudden contraction. Newtonian Liquids 7(1):27–31
Baviere R, Ayela F, Person SL, Favre-Marinet M (2005) Experimental characterization of water flow through smooth rectangular microchannels. Phys Fluids 17(9):098,105–1–098,105–4
Celata G, Cumo M, McPhail S, Zummo G (2006) Characterization of fluid dynamic behavior and channel wall effects in microtube. Int J Heat Fluid Flow 27:135–143
Fleming DP, Sparrow E (1969) Flow in the hydrodynamic entrance region of ducts of arbitrary cross section. J Heat Transf 91:345–354
Fox RW, McDonald AT (1998) Introduction to Fluid Mechanics, 5th edn. Wiley, New York
Haaland S (1983) Simple and explicit formulas for the friction factor in turbulent pipe flow. J Fluid Eng pp 89–90
Hegab HE, Bari A, Ameel T (2002) Friction and convection studies of R-134a in microchannels within the transition and turbulent flow regimes. Exp Heat Transf 15:245–249
Ho CM, Tai YC (1998) Micro-electro-mechanical-systems (MEMS) and fluid flows. Annu Rev Fluid Mech 30:579–612
Jang J, Wereley S (2004) Pressure distributions of gaseous slip flow in straight and uniform rectangular microchannels. Microfluid Nanofluid 1:41–51
Judy J, Maynes D, Webb B (2002) Characterization of frictional pressure drop for liquid flows through a microchannels. Int J Heat Mass Transf 45:3477–3489
Kohl M, Abdel-Khalik S, Jeter S, Sadowski D (2005) An experimental investigation of microchannel flow with internal pressure measurements. Int J Heat Mass Transf 48:1518–1533
Lee SJ, Kim GB (2003) Analysis of flow resistance inside microchannels with different inlet configurations using micro-PIV system. First international conference on microchannels and minichannels, New York, pp 823–827
Lee WY, Wong M, Zohar Y (2002) Microchannels in series connected via a contraction/expansion section. J Fluid Mech 459:187–206
Li H, Olsen MG (2006a) Aspect ratio effects on turbulent and transitional flow in rectangular microchannels as measured with micro PIV. J Fluids Eng 128:305–315
Li H, Olsen MG (2006b) MicroPIV measurements of turbulent flow in square microchannels with hydraulic diameters from 200 μm to 640 μm. Int J Heat Fluid Flow 27:123–134
Li H, Ewoldt R, Olsen MG (2005) Turbulent and transitional velocity measurements in a rectangular microchannel using microscopic particle image velocimetry. Exp Therm Fluid Sci 29:435–446
Liu J, Tai YC (1995) MEMS for pressure distribution studies of gaseous flows in microchannels. In: An investigation of micro structures, sensors, actuators, machines and systems Proc Ann Intl Workshop MEMS pp 209–215
London A, Shah R (1978) Laminar flow forced convection in ducts. Academic, New York
Maynes D, Webb A (2002) Velocity profile characterization in sub-millimeter diameter tubes using molecular tagging velocimetry. Exp Fluids 32:3–15
Papautsky I, Ameel T (2001) A review of laminar single-phase flow in microchannels. In: Proceedings of 2001 ASME international mechanical engineering congress and exposition, New York
Park H, Pak JJ, Song SY, Lim G, Song I (2003) Fabrication of a microchannel integrated with inner sensors and the analysis of its laminar flow characteristics. Sensors Actuators A 103:317–329
Peng X, Peterson G (1995) The effect of thermofluid and geometrical parameters on convection of liquids through rectangular microchannels. Int J Heat Mass Transf 38(4):755–758
Peng X, Peterson G (1996) Convective heat transfer and flow friction for water flow in microchannel structures. Int J Heat Mass Transf 39(12):2599–2608
Peng X, Peterson G, Wang B (1994) Frictional flow characteristics of water flowing through rectangular microchannels. Exp Heat Transf 7:249–264
Petersen SJ (2004) Microscale fluid flow characteristics through small tubes with qualitative molecular tagging velocimetry analysis. Master’s thesis, University of Utah
Pfund D, Rector D, Shekarriz A (2000) Pressure drop measurements in a microchannel. AIChE J 46(8):1496–1507
Pong KC, Ho CM, Liu J, Tai YC (1994) Non-linear pressure distribution in uniform microchannels. FED, Application of Microfabrication to Fluid Mechanics, ASME 197:51–56
Rands C, Webb B, Maynes D (2006) Characterization of transition to turbulence in microchannels. Int J Heat Mass Transf 49:2924–2930
Sharp K, Adrian R (2004) Transition from laminar to turbulent flow in liquid filled microtubes. Exp Fluids 36:741–747
Smith BL (2004) Pressure recovery in a radiused sudden expansion. Exp Fluids 36:901–907
Sobhan C, Garimella S (2001) A comparative analysis of studies on heat transfer and fluid flow in microchannels. Microscale Thermophys Eng 5:245
Steinke ME, Kandlikar SG (2006) Single-phase liquid friction factors in microchannels. Int J Therm Sci 45:1073–1083
Stone H, Stroock A, Ajdari A (2004) Engineering flows in small devices: microfluidics toward a lab-on-a-chip. Annu Rev Fluid Mech 36:381–411
Thompson B, Maynes D, Webb B (2002) Micro-scale velocity measurements using molecular tagging velocimetry: Methodology and uncertainty. ASME Fluids Engineering Division Summer Meeting pp 123–133
Thompson B, Maynes D, Webb B (2005) Characterization of the hydrodynamically developing flow in a microtube using MTV. J Fluids Eng 127:1003–1012
Turner SE, Lam LC, Faghri M, Gregory OJ (2004) Experimental investigation of gas flow in microchannels. J Heat Transf 126:753–763
Weast R (1969) Handbook of chemistry and physics, 50th edn. The Chemical Rubber, Cleveland
Wiginton C, Dalton C (1970) Incompressible laminar flow in the entrance region of a rectangular duct. J Appl Mech 37:854–856
Wu H, Cheng P (2002) Friction factors in smooth trapezoidal silicon microchannels with different aspect ratios. Int J Heat Mass Transf 45:2549–2565
Acknowledgments
This study was supported by NSF IGERT grant DGE 9987616. The experiments documented herein comply with the current laws of the United States.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Costaschuk, D., Elsnab, J., Petersen, S. et al. Axial static pressure measurements of water flow in a rectangular microchannel. Exp Fluids 43, 907–916 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00348-007-0360-9
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00348-007-0360-9