A CFD Study on Film Thickness, Pressure Drop, and Heat Transfer of Slug Flows in Circular Microchannels

Abstract

Slug flows in microchannels have been studied in the past two decades as a method to enhance heat transfer. Several correlations have been developed for predicting film thickness, pressure drop, and heat transfer, mostly based on experimental analysis. More recently, numerical simulation become an available tool providing deeper insight of these flows. In the present study, a number of numerical simulations of slug flows performed under different wall thermal conditions, the results have been compared to the available correlations, and gaps in existing models have been highlighted. The simulations have been carried out using the commercial package ANSYS Fluent. Film thickness, pressure drop, and heat transfer models under constant wall heat flux and constant temperature have been focused, and finally suggestion for future studies have been presented.