Measurement of liquid film thickness in micro square channel

Abstract

In micro channels, slug flow becomes one of the main flow regimes due to strong surface tension. In micro channel slug flow, elongated bubble flows with the thin liquid film confined between the bubble and the channel wall. Liquid film thickness is an important parameter in many applications, e.g., micro heat exchanger, micro reactor, coating process etc. In the present study, liquid film thickness in micro square channels is measured locally and instantaneously with the confocal method. Square channels with hydraulic diameter of D h = 0.3, 0.5 and 1.0 mm are used. In order to investigate the effect of inertial force on the liquid film thickness, three working fluids, ethanol, water and FC-40 are used. At small capillary numbers, liquid film at the channel center becomes very thin and the bubble interface is not axisymmetric. However, as capillary number increases, bubble interface becomes axisymmetric. Transition from non-axisymmetric to axisymmetric flow pattern starts from lower capillary number as Reynolds number increases. An empirical correlation for predicting axisymmetric bubble radius based on capillary number and Weber number is proposed from the present experimental data.