Pressure drop and flow pattern of gas-non-Newtonian fluid two-phase flow in a square microchannel

Abstract

An experiment of gas-non-Newtonian fluid flow was performed in a horizontal square microchannel to investigate the two-phase pressure drop and flow pattern. The pressure drops were measured and the images of the flow pattern were captured. In the non-Newtonian fluid, the flow pattern and flow regime map were different from those in water. The non-Newtonian behavior of the liquid phase also significantly affected the two-phase pressure drop. The relationship between the two-phase pressure drop and the gas and fluid flow rates relied on the flow pattern. A new two-phase friction multiplier correlation considering the gas-liquid flow rate ratio and the rheological properties of the liquid phase was developed to calculate the two-phase pressure drop. The new correlation can predict the experimental pressure drop data within the root mean square percentage errors of 12% for the gas-non-Newtonian fluid two-phase flow and 17% for the gas-water two-phase flow.