Transient flow patterns in a microfluidic chip with a complicated microstructure

✍ Scribed by Wei Zhang; Jinliang Xu

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 556 KB
• Volume: 37
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1099-2871
• DOI: 10.1002/htj.20201

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

The transient flow patterns of the boiling flow in a microfluidic chip with a complicated microstructure were studied at low mass fluxes and high heat fluxes. The periodic flow pattern in the timescale of milliseconds and the stratified flow pattern were observed. For a specific separated zone, the liquid film thickness was increased along the flow direction and the dry‐out always occurred earlier at the microchannel upstream rather than downstream. However, for different microchannel zones, the dry‐out took place earlier in the downstream zone. It was determined that the low liquid Froude number was responsible for the formation of the stratified flow. The large boiling number resulted in a large shear stress at the vapor–liquid interface, leading to the accumulation of the liquid in the microchannel downstream, causing the increased liquid film thickness along the flow direction. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 37(4): 224–231, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/htj.20201