Second law analysis of water flow through smooth microtubes under adiabatic conditions

Abstract

In the study, a second law analysis for a steady-laminar flow of water in adiabatic microtubes has been conducted. Smooth microtubes with the diameters between 50 and 150 μm made of fused silica were used in the experiments. Considerable temperature rises due to viscous dissipation and relatively high pressure losses of flow were observed in experiments. To identify irreversibility of flow, rate of entropy generation from the experiments have been determined in the laminar flow range of Re = 20–2200. The second law of thermodynamics was applied to predict the entropy generation. The results of model taken from the literature, proposed to predict the temperature rise caused by viscous heating, correspond well with the experimental data. The second law analysis results showed that the flow characteristics in the smooth microtubes distinguish substantially from the conventional theory for flow in the larger tubes with respect to viscous heating/dissipation (temperature rise of flow) total entropy generation rate and lost work.