Wall shape effects on multiphase flow in channels

Abstract

Two-fluid flow is examined analytically and numerically for increased flow rates through a channel with surface roughness or branching or both. The viscosity and density ratios of the fluids are of order unity. There is much concern in terms of applications as well as fluid dynamical phenomena in configurations where one fluid is present only as a thin layer near an outer wall, leaving the other fluid occupying the channel core and part of a viscous wall layer. The interactive dynamics in both regions is studied and numerical and asymptotic analyses are performed. The major situations examined are: the flow to two symmetrically bifurcating daughters and the flow in a single channel over a rough wall, as well as a combination of the two situations. The principal phenomena of interest are conditions for flow reversal, the presence of upstream influence and the trajectories of the injected fluid as the density or viscosity ratio varies. Special relatively thin or thinning wall layers are produced when the core fluid viscosity increases or when the fluid travels downstream into a daughter vessel.