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Pressure fluctuations of liquid-liquid slug flow in cross-junction square microchannels

Qian, Jin Yuan LU orcid ; Chen, Min Rui ; Wu, Zan LU ; Cao, Zhen LU and Sunden, Bengt LU (2018) 16th International Heat Transfer Conference, IHTC 2018 In International Heat Transfer Conference p.7231-7241
Abstract

Microchannels are widely used for heat transfer enhancement. The pressure characteristics are one of the most important factors affecting the heat transfer performance, and the pressure regulation may also control the heat transfer precisely in turn. As a common flow pattern of two-phase flow, slug flow has obvious advantages for heat and mass transfer, like steady flow rate and large interface area etc. Due to the interface stress and the velocity difference between the continuous phase and the dispersed phase, pressure fluctuations occur in both the flowing direction and the cross section. In oil and natural gas industries, pressure fluctuations of slug flow can be used for the slug size and velocity measurement, and also to analyze... (More)

Microchannels are widely used for heat transfer enhancement. The pressure characteristics are one of the most important factors affecting the heat transfer performance, and the pressure regulation may also control the heat transfer precisely in turn. As a common flow pattern of two-phase flow, slug flow has obvious advantages for heat and mass transfer, like steady flow rate and large interface area etc. Due to the interface stress and the velocity difference between the continuous phase and the dispersed phase, pressure fluctuations occur in both the flowing direction and the cross section. In oil and natural gas industries, pressure fluctuations of slug flow can be used for the slug size and velocity measurement, and also to analyze the principle of slug generation. However, when it comes to micro scale, pressure fluctuations of slug flow in microchannels is difficult to measure, not only due to the pressure difference within a low pressure range (10 to 103 Pa), but also because of the small size, for which conventional pressure sensors cannot be utilized. In this paper, a numerical method is adopted for the liquid-liquid slug flow (butanol/water) pressure prediction in a cross-junction square microchannel. To begin with, the validation of the numerical method is carried out by comparing the slug size with experiments under the same working conditions. Then, both pressure fluctuations in the flow direction and in the cross section are investigated. With a transient flow model, pressure fluctuations in the cross section at different flowing time are observed. Finally, effects of the dispersed phase (butanol) injection velocity on pressure fluctuations are performed. This work can be used for further study of the slug generation in microchannels.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Cross-junction, Microchannels, Pressure fluctuation, Slug flow, Volume of Fluid (VOF)
host publication
Proceeding: International Heat Transfer Conference 16
series title
International Heat Transfer Conference
pages
11 pages
publisher
Begell House
conference name
16th International Heat Transfer Conference, IHTC 2018
conference location
Beijing, China
conference dates
2018-08-10 - 2018-08-15
external identifiers
  • scopus:85068318901
ISSN
2377-424X
DOI
10.1615/IHTC16.nmt.023132
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
b6a5069c-7f43-4d43-bc46-c07688f9c64d
date added to LUP
2019-07-11 14:54:28
date last changed
2023-09-09 11:10:36
@inproceedings{b6a5069c-7f43-4d43-bc46-c07688f9c64d,
  abstract     = {{<p>Microchannels are widely used for heat transfer enhancement. The pressure characteristics are one of the most important factors affecting the heat transfer performance, and the pressure regulation may also control the heat transfer precisely in turn. As a common flow pattern of two-phase flow, slug flow has obvious advantages for heat and mass transfer, like steady flow rate and large interface area etc. Due to the interface stress and the velocity difference between the continuous phase and the dispersed phase, pressure fluctuations occur in both the flowing direction and the cross section. In oil and natural gas industries, pressure fluctuations of slug flow can be used for the slug size and velocity measurement, and also to analyze the principle of slug generation. However, when it comes to micro scale, pressure fluctuations of slug flow in microchannels is difficult to measure, not only due to the pressure difference within a low pressure range (10 to 10<sup>3</sup> Pa), but also because of the small size, for which conventional pressure sensors cannot be utilized. In this paper, a numerical method is adopted for the liquid-liquid slug flow (butanol/water) pressure prediction in a cross-junction square microchannel. To begin with, the validation of the numerical method is carried out by comparing the slug size with experiments under the same working conditions. Then, both pressure fluctuations in the flow direction and in the cross section are investigated. With a transient flow model, pressure fluctuations in the cross section at different flowing time are observed. Finally, effects of the dispersed phase (butanol) injection velocity on pressure fluctuations are performed. This work can be used for further study of the slug generation in microchannels.</p>}},
  author       = {{Qian, Jin Yuan and Chen, Min Rui and Wu, Zan and Cao, Zhen and Sunden, Bengt}},
  booktitle    = {{Proceeding: International Heat Transfer Conference 16}},
  issn         = {{2377-424X}},
  keywords     = {{Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD); Cross-junction; Microchannels; Pressure fluctuation; Slug flow; Volume of Fluid (VOF)}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{7231--7241}},
  publisher    = {{Begell House}},
  series       = {{International Heat Transfer Conference}},
  title        = {{Pressure fluctuations of liquid-liquid slug flow in cross-junction square microchannels}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1615/IHTC16.nmt.023132}},
  doi          = {{10.1615/IHTC16.nmt.023132}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}