Evaluation Analysis of Prediction Methods for Two-Phase Flow Pressure Drop in Mini-Channels

2092 data of two-phase flow pressure drop were collected from 18 published papers of which the working fluids include R123, R134a, R22, R236ea, R245fa, R404a, R407C, R410a, R507, CO₂, water and air. The hydraulic diameter ranges from 0.506 to 12mm; Re_lo from 10 to 37000, and Re_go from 3 to 4×10⁵. 11 correlations and models for calculating the two-phase frictional pressure drop were evaluated based upon these data. The results show that the accuracy of the Lockhart-Martinelli method, Mishima and Hibiki correlation, Zhang and Mishima correlation and Lee and Mudawar correalion in the laminar region is very close to each other, while the Muller-Steinhagen and Heck correlation is the best among the evaluated correlations in the turbulent region. A modified Chisholm correlation was proposed, which is better than all of the evaluated correlations in the turbulent region and its mean relative error is about 29%. For refrigerants only, the new correlation and Muller-Steinhagen and Heck correlation are very close to each other and give better agreement than the other evaluated correlations.