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Characteristics of Liquid Flow in Microchannels at very Low Reynolds Numbers
Author(s) -
Zhang Xiwen,
He Feng,
Hao Pengfei,
Gao Ye,
Sun Liang,
Wang Xiaoqi,
Jin Xu
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
chemical engineering and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.403
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1521-4125
pISSN - 0930-7516
DOI - 10.1002/ceat.201500743
Subject(s) - reynolds number , laminar flow , mechanics , pressure drop , microchannel , particle image velocimetry , hydraulic diameter , materials science , newtonian fluid , flow (mathematics) , non newtonian fluid , thermodynamics , physics , turbulence
Abstract The flow characteristics of deionized water and kerosene through smooth rectangular microchannels with varying hydraulic diameters are studied experimentally. Through the special design of the experimental setup, a wide range of measured average liquid velocities in microchannels is achieved, corresponding to broad‐ranging Reynolds numbers. The experimental data indicate that the pressure drop exhibits a linear relationship with the average velocity of the fluid in microchannels whose scales are larger than 2 μm. Moreover, the experimental Darcy friction factor is consistent with the classical laminar flow theory of a Newtonian fluid. Microscopic particle image velocimetry was applied to measure the velocity distribution inside the macrochannels. The experimental results agree well with the classical hydrodynamic theory.