Investigation of characteristics of gas-liquid two-phase flows in a rectangular microchannel with return bends

Gas-liquid two-phase flows in a horizontal rectangular microchannel with return bends have been investigated. The width and the depth of the microchannel are 240 μm and 230 μm, respectively. T-junction type gas-liquid mixer was used to introduce gas and liquid in the channel. In order to know the effects of liquid properties, distilled water, pure ethanol, 49wt% ethanol aqueous solution and HFE7200 were used as the test liquids, while nitrogen gas as the test gas. The flow pattern, the bubble velocity, the bubble length and the liquid slug length were measured, and the void fraction was determined as the ratio of the gas superficial velocity to the bubble velocity. The bubble velocity at a downstream position from the bend is faster than that at an upstream position, and thus the void fraction is smaller at a downstream position. The bubble velocity data were well correlated with the well-known drift flux model with Kawahara et al.’s distribution parameter correlation. The bubble length data at the upstream and the downstream positions are also correlated with the scaling law proposed by Garstecki et al., irrespective of the test liquids. The liquid slug length data are correlated with an exponential function of the void fraction. The ratio of the bubble length to the bubble pitch is also well correlated with a linear function of the homogeneous void fraction.© 2011 ASME