Huge reduction in pressure drop of water, glycerol/water mixture, and aqueous solution of polyethylene oxide in high speed flows through micro-orifices

Abstract

Microfluid mechanics is one of the most exciting research areas in modern fluid mechanics and fluid engineering because of its many potential industrial and biological applications. In the present study, pressure drops (PDs) were measured for water, a 50/50 glycerol/water mixture, and a 0.1% aqueous solution of polyethylene oxide (PEO) 8000 flowing at high velocities through various sizes of micro-orifice. It was found that the measured PD of water and the glycerol/water mixture agrees with the prediction of the Navier–Stokes equation for orifices 100 and 400 μm in diameter, but it is lower for orifices less than 50 μm in diameter. In particular, the measured maximum PD was almost two orders of magnitude lower than the prediction for the 10 and 5 μm diameter orifices. The glycerol/water mixture, possessing a viscosity ten times higher than water, provided nearly the same PDs as water when the reduction was generated. The solution of PEO produced a lower PD than water and the glycerol/water mixture except for the 400 μm diameter orifice. Several factors, including orifice shape, deformation of orifice foil, wall slip, transition, cavitation, and elasticity were considered but the evidence suggests that the reduction in PD may be caused by wall slip or the elasticity induced in a flow of high elongational rate.