Adiabatic Gas-Liquid Two-Phase Flow Patterns in Microchannels

Flow patterns of adiabatic gas-liquid two-phase flow in micro-channels were experimentally investigated. Using nitrogen and water, experiments were conducted in square micro-channels with hydraulic diameters of 0.209mm, 0.412mm and 0.622 mm, respectively. Gas and liquid superficial velocities were varied from 0.06–72.3 m/s and 0.02–7.13 m/s, respectively. Four defined flow patterns, bubbly-slug flow, slug-ring flow, dispersed-churn flow and annular flow, were observed in micro-channels of 0.412 mm and, 0.622 mm. In the micro-channel of 0.209 mm, the bubbly-slug flow became the slug-flow and the dispersed-churn flow disappeared due to the surface tension effect and the smooth gas-liquid interface. The flow regime maps for the current three micro-channels were constructed and showed the transition lines shifted to higher gas superficial velocity due to the stronger surface tension effect with a smaller channel size in micro-channels. They were also compared with some other micro-channel flow regime maps and the mini-channel flow regime map based on the Weber number model, which showed the flow map for the micro-channel is significantly sensitive to the working fluid, channel geometry and channel size and the flow regime criteria developed for mini-channels should not be applied for micro-channels without further verification.