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Experimental Investigation of Adiabatic Gas-Liquid Flow Regimes and Pressure Drop in Slit Microchannel

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Abstract

The flow regimes and pressure drop in a slit microchannel with a height of 164 μm and width of 10 mm are studied experimentally. The boundaries between the regimes are precisely determined using the developed procedure. The homogeneous flow model and the separated flow model are considered for determining the frictional pressure drop. Experimental data are compared with theoretical models. For the homogeneous flow model, the Dukler correlation gives good agreement with experimental data with a mean absolute error of 12%. A new correlation, which describes the experimental data with a mean absolute error of 8.1%, is proposed for the homogeneous flow model. For the separated flow model, the Hwang and Kim correlation gives the best agreement with a mean absolute error of 12.8%. The dependence of the pressure drop in the film flows (annular and stratified regimes) on the mass gas quality has been investigated. It is shown that the minimal pressure drop for the film flows is achieved in the stratified regime; thus, it is the most promising for the use in technical applications.

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Abbreviations

D :

Diameter, m

D h :

Hydraulic diameter, m

L :

Channel length, m

b :

Channel width, m

h :

Channel height,m

z :

Stream-wise coordinate, m

S :

Cross sectional area, m2

S ch :

Observed microchannel area in, m2

S bf :

Area of liquid film on bottom microchannel wall, m2

S uf :

Area of liquid film on upper microchannel wall, m2

F :

Bubble formation frequency, Hz

\( {U}_{sl}=\frac{Q_l}{b\cdot h} \) :

Superficial liquid velocity, m/s

\( {U}_{sg}=\frac{Q_g}{b\cdot h} \) :

Superficial gas velocity, m/s

g :

Acceleration of gravity, m/s2

P :

Pressure, Pа

G :

Mass flux, kg/m2s

Q :

Volumetric flow rate, m3/s

ρ :

Density, kg/m3

σ :

Surface tension, N/m

μ :

Dynamic viscosity, kg/m ⋅ s

ε :

Roughness, m

\( {\delta}_c=\sqrt{\frac{\sigma }{g\left({\rho}_l-{\rho}_g\right)}} \) :

Capillary constant, m

τ :

Shear stress, kg/m ⋅ s2

\( f=\frac{2{\tau}_w}{\rho {U}^2} \) :

Fanning friction factor

\( {\mathit{\operatorname{Re}}}_l=\frac{G\left(1-x\right){D}_h}{\mu_l} \) :

Liquid Reynolds number

\( {\mathit{\operatorname{Re}}}_g=\frac{GxD_h}{\mu_g} \) :

Gas Reynolds number

\( {\mathit{\operatorname{Re}}}_{lo}=\frac{GD_h}{\mu_l} \) :

Reynolds number of liquid only

\( {\mathit{\operatorname{Re}}}_{go}=\frac{GD_h}{\mu_g} \) :

Reynolds number of gas only

\( {Su}_{go}=\frac{\rho_g\sigma {D}_h}{\mu_g^2} \) :

Suratman number of gas only

\( Eo=\frac{g\left({\rho}_l-{\rho}_g\right){D}_h^2}{\sigma } \) :

Eotvos number

\( {N}_{conf}=\frac{1}{Eo^2}=\sqrt{\frac{\sigma }{g\left({\rho}_l-{\rho}_g\right){D}_h^2}} \) :

Confinement number

\( {We}_{lo}=\frac{G^2{D}_h}{\rho_l\sigma } \) :

Weber number of liquid only

\( {We}_{tp}=\frac{G^2{D}_h}{\rho_{tp}\sigma } \) :

Two-phase Weber number

\( x=\frac{\rho_g{Q}_g}{\rho_g{Q}_g+{\rho}_l{Q}_l} \) :

Gas quality

\( \beta =\frac{U_{sg}}{U_{sg}+{U}_{sl}} \) :

Homogeneous void fraction

\( X=\sqrt{\frac{{\left(\frac{dP}{dL}\right)}_l}{{\left(\frac{dP}{dL}\right)}_g}} \) :

Martinelli parameter

l :

Liquid

g :

Gas

lo :

Liquid only

go :

Gas only

tp :

Two phase

h :

Hydraulic

w :

Wall

sl :

Superficial liquid

sg :

Superficial gas

vv :

Laminar liquid – laminar gas

vt :

Laminar liquid – turbulent gas

tv :

Turbulent liquid – laminar gas

tt :

Turbulent liquid – turbulent gas

pred :

Predicted

exp :

Experimental

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Acknowledgments

The work was financially supported by the grant of the Russian Science Foundation No. 18-19-00407.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kutateladze Institute of Thermophysics, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Lavrentiev ave. 1, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

    F. V. Ronshin, Yu. A. Dementyev, E. A. Chinnov, V. V. Cheverda & O. A. Kabov

  2. Novosibirsk State University, Pirogov st. 1, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

    F. V. Ronshin, Yu. A. Dementyev, E. A. Chinnov, V. V. Cheverda & O. A. Kabov

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  1. F. V. Ronshin
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  2. Yu. A. Dementyev
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  3. E. A. Chinnov
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  4. V. V. Cheverda
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  5. O. A. Kabov
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Correspondence to F. V. Ronshin.

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This article belongs to the Topical Collection: Thirty Years of Microgravity Research - A Topical Collection Dedicated to J. C. Legros

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Ronshin, F.V., Dementyev, Y.A., Chinnov, E.A. et al. Experimental Investigation of Adiabatic Gas-Liquid Flow Regimes and Pressure Drop in Slit Microchannel. Microgravity Sci. Technol. 31, 693–707 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12217-019-09747-1

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