大深宽比双T形微通道内液-液两相流可视化研究

通过高速摄像对水力直径0.176mm、深宽比2.4的双T形矩形微通道内的液-液两相流动进行了可视化实验研究。改变连续相（硅油）和分散相（水）的流量比,记录分析了微通道不同部位油-水两相流的流型和流型发展演化情况。实验结果表明,在微通道上游T形部位的油-水两相流型主要包括滴状流、弹状流、波平行流和平行流;在微通道的中间部位,绘制了基于水和硅油量纲为1韦伯数的流型图,并将其与相关文献进行了比较。同时,发现微通道内液塞及液滴的长度（量纲为1）与油/水流量比之间存在线性关系,液塞/液滴速度比两相混合物表观速度大,建立了能够准确描述液塞/液滴运动速度的实验拟合公式。最后,研究了液滴在微通道下游T形部位的行为,观察到断裂和不断裂两种模式并进行了分析,给出了划分断裂与否的流型图。     

Flow distribution and mass transfer in a parallel microchannel contactor integrated with constructal distributors

Flow distribution and mass transfer characteristics during CO₂‐water flow through a parallel microchannel contactor integrated with two constructal distributors have been investigated numerically and experimentally. Each distributor comprises a dichotomic tree structure that feeds 16 microchannels with hydraulic diameters of 667 μm. It was found that constructal distributors could ensure a nearly uniform gas–liquid distribution at high gas flow rates where the ideal flow pattern was slug‐annular flow. Nevertheless, at small gas flow rates where the ideal flow pattern was slug flow, a significant flow maldistribution occurred primarily due to the lack of large pressure barrier inside each distributor, indicating that dynamic pressure fluctuation in parallel microchannels greatly disturbed an otherwise good flow distribution therein. It was further shown that the present parallel microchannel contactor could realize the desired mass transfer performance previously achieved in one single microchannel under relatively wide operational ranges due to the integration of constructal distributors. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2010     

Gas/liquid/liquid three‐phase flow patterns and bubble/droplet size laws in a double T‐junction microchannel

The double T‐junction microchannel is a classical microstructured chemical device used to generate gas/liquid/liquid three‐phase microflows. An experimental study that focused on the three‐phase flow phenomena and bubble/droplet generation rules in a double T‐junction microchannel was introduced. Based on the published knowledge of gas/liquid and liquid/liquid two‐phase microflows, new flow patterns were carefully defined: bubble cutting flow, spontaneous break‐up and bubble cutting coupling flow, and bubble/droplet alternate break‐up flow. According to the classical correlations of bubble and droplet volumes and their generation frequency ratio, the operating criteria for creating different three‐phase flow patterns were established and a model for the dimensionless average bubble and droplet volumes in the three‐phase microflows was developed. These various three‐phase microflows have great application potential in material science and flow chemistry synthesis. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 1722–1734, 2015     

微通道中气-液-液三相流流型及传质研究

使用双T型微通道,以体积分数为30%的磷酸三丁酯（TBP）的环己烷溶液-乙酸水溶液为萃取体系,研究了不同油水两相流量比及油水两相总流量条件下,气相的引入及气相流量分率α对流型及传质的影响,并获得总体积传质系数k_La与油水两相流量比q、气相雷诺数Re_g、液相平均雷诺数Re_M的关系式。研究结果表明,第1个T型接口处气相的引入所带来的气相剪切作用能促进第2个T型接口处分散相液滴的形成,可使液-液并行流转化为气-液-液三相弹状流;同时,由于气-液-液弹状流具有较高的相接触面积及内循环作用,传质系数k_La得到显著提高。     

Numerical study on the hydrodynamics behavior of a central insert microchannel

In this work, the computational fluid dynamics method is used to study the liquid hydrodynamics behavior in the microchannel without central insert (MC1) and the central insert microchannel (MC2), respectively. The maximum deviation between simulation and experiment is 24%. The formations of flow patterns are explained based on contours and force analysis where the flow pattern maps are established by two-phase flow rate. The effects of aqueous phase viscosity and two-phase flow rate on the characteristic sizes of each flow pattern are also explored. Specifically, four unconventional flow patterns are found in MC2, namely the unique droplet flow, the unique slug flow, the unique coarse annular flow and the unique film annular flow. Though the insert occupies part of the channel, the pressure difference in the channel is significantly reduced compared with MC1. Moreover, the insert significantly changes the formation velocity range of each flow pattern, greatly broadens the formation range of annular flow and also has an important influence on the characteristic size of the flow pattern. The organic-phase dimensionless axial size (L_o/W) and the dimensionless radial size (D_o/W) of the droplet (slug) are negatively related to the aqueous-phase viscosity (μ_a) and flow rate (u_a). The D_o/W of the annular is negatively correlated with μ_a and positively correlated with organic-phase flow rate (u_o). This study provides direct numerical evidence that the insert is key to the formation of bicontinuous phase flow pattern, as well as further strengthens our understanding of the flow characteristics and optimization design of insert microchannels.     

Flow Regimes of Viscous Immiscible Liquids in T‐Type Microchannels

A computational and experimental study of the flow regimes of a mixture of castor and paraffin oils in a T‐type microchannel with 200 × 400 µm cross section was carried out. The ranges of parallel, slug, droplet, and rivulet flow regimes of the tested mixture were defined. According to the experimental results, a flow regime map was constructed for this mixture depending on the Weber number multiplied by the Ohnesorge number. A correlation of the length of paraffin oil slugs to the fluid flow ratio was established. The experimental data were compared with results of numerical simulation. A good agreement between calculation and experimental data was achieved in terms of reproduction of flow regimes, phase boundaries, and slug length.     

十字聚焦型微通道内弹状液滴在黏弹性流体中的生成与尺寸预测

利用高速摄像仪对十字聚焦微通道内液滴在黏弹性流体中的生成过程进行了实验研究。微通道截面为600μm×600 μm 的正方形结构,采用硅油作为分散相,含0.3%表面活性剂十二烷基硫酸钠(SDS)的聚环氧乙烷(PEO)水溶液(质量分数分别为0.1%,0.3%,0.6%)为连续相。实验观察到了弹状流、滴状流和喷射流3 种流型。对弹状流型下液滴生成过程的颈部动力学进行了研究,考察了两相流率、连续相毛细数及弹性数对液滴尺寸的影响。结果表明:弹状液滴尺寸随连续相流率、毛细数及弹性数的增加而减小,随分散相流率的增加而增加,连续相弹性对液滴尺寸的影响相对较小。以油水两相流率比和连续相的毛细数及Reynolds 数为变量建立了弹状液滴尺寸的预测关联式,预测值与实验值吻合良好。     

Flow pattern transition in gas‐liquid downflow through narrow vertical tubes

The present report studies on the flow pattern transitions during vertical air water downflow through millichannels (0.83 ≤ Eötvös no. ≤ 20.63). Four basic flow patterns namely falling film flow, slug flow, bubbly flow, and annular flow are observed in the range of experimental conditions studied and their range of existence has been noted to vary with tube diameter and phase velocities. Based on experimental observations, phenomenological models are proposed to predict the transition boundaries between adjacent patterns. These have been validated with experimental flow pattern maps from the present experiments. Thus the study formalizes procedure for developing a generalized flow pattern map for gas‐liquid downflow in narrow tubes. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 63: 792–800, 2017     

Liquid holdup in concentric annuli during cocurrent gas‐liquid upflow

In the recent paper, an in‐depth investigation of liquid holdup during air‐water upflow through concentric annuli has been reported. The liquid holdup has been determined experimentally for the bubbly, slug and churn flow regimes. The drift flux model has been adopted for the theoretical estimation of holdup in the bubbly, dispersed bubbly and slug flow regimes. The pronounced effect of flow regime on this parameter as observed from experiments has been incorporated in the model by adopting different values of U₀, n and C₀. The asymmetry of the Taylor bubbles has been incorporated in the slug flow regime. The theoretical predictions exhibit a good agreement with the experimental data of the present work and that available in literature (Caetano et al., 1989b). The Hughmark's correlation is observed to correlate the churn flow data of the present work reasonably well.     

Measurements of horizontal three‐phase solid‐liquid‐gas slug flow: Influence of hydrate‐like particles on hydrodynamics

Gas hydrate formation is a main flow assurance concern in oil and gas production. Understanding the effects of the introduction of solid particles in the slug flow is essential to improve the efficiency and safety of multiphase production. The purpose of the present work is the experimental characterization of solid‐liquid‐gas slug flow with the presence of dispersed hydrate‐like particles. Experimental tests were carried out with inert polyethylene particles of 0.5‐mm diameter with density similar to gas hydrates (938 kg/m³). The test section comprised a 26‐mm ID, 9‐m length horizontal duct of transparent Plexiglas. High Speed Imaging and resistivity sensors was used to analyze the slug flow unit cell behavior due to the introduction of the solid particles and to measure the unit cell translational velocity, the slug flow frequency, the bubble and slug lengths, and the phase fractions. Two distinct concentrations of solid particles were tested (6 and 8 g/dm³). © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 64: 2864–2880, 2018     

入口流速对间断微通道内流型演变及流量分配特性影响

微通道内气液两相流动规律是影响微通道换热器换热系数和流场温度均匀性的主要因素。以N2和H2O为工质，对间断、并联矩形微通道换热器内气液两相流型的起始、发展、稳定过程的演化以及并联通道内流量分配不均匀特性进行了数值模拟研究。结果表明，不同的进口Re对微通道内流型的演变过程和流动周期有重要影响，当进口Re为450时，气相工质在均流腔内以离散的散团状形态脉动扩散至微通道中，并联通道内气相工质从弹状流型态逐渐转变为泡状流型态；当进口Re增至为1600时，气相工质在均流腔内以较连续的椭圆状型态扩散至微通道中，并联通道内气相工质从环状流型态逐渐转变为泡状流型态。通道结构还将影响并联通道间的流量分配的均匀性，间断微腔的存在使微通道内工质质量流量分布均匀性提升38.7%，通过研究通道内压力分布规律，发现通道内静压的分布不均匀是导致两相工质从均流腔进入微通道时发生不均匀分配的重要原因。     

Sensor‐based flow pattern detection—gas–liquid–liquid upflow through a vertical pipe

Flow distribution during gas–liquid–liquid upflow through a vertical pipe is investigated. The optical probe technique has been adopted for an objective identification of flow patterns. The probability density function (PDF) analysis of the probe signals has been used to identify the range of existence of the different patterns. Dispersed and slug flow have been identified from the nature of the PDF, which is bimodal for slug flow and unimodal for dispersed flow. The water continuous, oil continuous, and emulsion type flow distributions are distinguished on the basis of the PDF moments. The method is particularly useful at high flow rates where visualization techniques fail. Based on this, a flow pattern detection algorithm has been presented. Two different representations of flow pattern maps have been suggested for gas–liquid–liquid three phase flow. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 60: 3362–3375, 2014     

Droplet formation of H2SO4/alkane system in a T‐junction microchannel: Gravity effect

A special system of concentrated sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄) and n‐hexane was used to study the droplet formation in a glass T‐junction microchannel with H₂SO₄ as the continuous phase. The effects of capillary number, flow ratio, and viscosity ratio on the droplet formation were investigated. The effect of gravity was explored by changing the flow direction in the microchannel. Results showed that the formation of transition flow pattern from squeezing to dripping is much easier for this special system compared with common aqueous/organic systems. This phenomenon is due to the considerably higher viscosity of H₂SO₄ than that of common aqueous phase and the higher density difference of the system compared with those of common systems. In addition to capillary number and flow ratio, gravity evidently affects the formation of droplets and flow patterns. The droplet size is smaller than that during the horizontal flow when the flow direction is consistent with gravity. By contrast, flow direction contrary to that of gravity results in larger droplet size than that at horizontal flow. This phenomenon provides guidance on the operation of these special systems in microchannels. Finally, mathematical models of droplet size at different flow patterns have been established, and these models can predict droplet size very well. This study could be helpful to extend the application of microreactors to new working systems. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 62: 4564–4573, 2016     

Effect of Viscosity on the Hydrodynamics of Liquid Processes in Microchannels

The hydrodynamics of single‐phase liquid flow with relatively high fluid viscosities in a microchannel was investigated experimentally. The results showed that the conventional theory could predict the single‐phase flow with high fluid viscosities in microchannels. Furthermore, the effect of viscosity on the slug flow of two immiscible liquid phases in a microchannel was studied with high‐speed imaging techniques. It was found that a higher dispersed‐phase viscosity quickened the flow pattern transition from slug flow to parallel flow and resulted in smaller slugs. A modified capillary number representing the mutual effects of the viscosities of the continuous phase and the dispersed phase was proposed for predicting the slug sizes in microchannels.     

微通道内气液(液液)二相流的实验研究进展

综述了微通道内气液(液液)二相流的流型特征.微通道内气液二相流常见的流型为泡状流、弹状流、环状流和翻腾流;液液二相流常见的流型为液滴流、塞状流、平行流及环状流.分析了不同操作条件对气液(液液)二相流行为的影响.介绍了微通道内气液(液液)二相流流型判别谱图,对常用的弹状流、液滴流和塞状流进行了重点介绍.指出了微通道内气液...     

Inception and termination of the core‐annular flow pattern for oil‐water downflow through a vertical pipe

Different flow patterns for lube oil–water and for kerosene‐water downflow through a vertical glass tube have been analyzed with the help of flow visualization. Core‐annular flow is the dominant flow regime, with oil forming the core, and water is forming the wall film. When the velocities are increased, transition to slug flow and transition to dispersed flow are found. The waves found during the transition to slug flow depend on oil viscosity: axisymmetric bamboo waves are seen in kerosene‐water downflow and the waves are asymmetric in case of lube oil–water flow where they have a cork‐screw shape. Based on the experimental observations, simple mathematical models have been proposed for predicting the flow pattern transition curves. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2012     

Horizontal air–water flow in a square cross‐section channel: Pseudo‐slug flow regime

New experimental data for air–water flow in a horizontal square cross‐section channel (H = 24.25 mm) is presented, including data on liquid hold‐up, gas and liquid velocities, and wave velocities and frequencies. For the majority of gas and liquid flow rates studied, the regime observed was pseudo‐slug. Using visualization studies it was possible to identify wavy‐stratified and pseudo‐slug flows. For the pseudo‐slug regime new correlations were obtained for liquid hold‐up, for gas and liquid velocities as a function of the ratio between gas and liquid mass flow rates, and for the frequency of roll‐waves as a function of gas and liquid mass flow rates.     

Formation of liquid–liquid slug flow in a microfluidic T‐junction: Effects of fluid properties and leakage flow

Characteristics of liquid–liquid slug flow are investigated in a microchannel with focus on the leakage flow that bypasses droplets through channel gutters. The results show that the leakage flow rate varies in a range of 10.7–53.5% and 8.3–30.9% of the feed flow rate, during the droplet formation (i.e., at T‐junction) and downstream flow (i.e., in the main channel), respectively, which highly depends on Ca number and wetting condition. Empirical correlations are proposed to predict them for perfectly and partially wetting conditions. Leakage flow contribution is further used to improve the Garstecki model for size scaling in order to extend its suitability for both squeezing and shearing regimes. The instantaneous flow rates of the immiscible phases are found to fluctuate periodically with the formation cycles, but in opposite behavior. The effect of the presence of leakage flow on such fluctuation are investigated and compared with gas–liquid systems. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 63: 346–357, 2018     

并行微通道内气液相分配规律

微反应器的集成放大对于微化工技术的工业应用具有重要意义。利用高速摄像仪对4个并行微通道内气液两相流动状况及相分配规律进行了研究,考察了气液两相流量及液相黏度对两相分布均匀性的影响。实验所用液相为含0.3%表面活性剂十二烷基硫酸钠（SDS）的蒸馏水-甘油溶液,气相为氮气（N₂）。实验观察到了6种典型的两相流型。对各支通道均为弹状流情况下气泡长度和气泡速度的分布规律进行了研究。在一定气相流率下,各支通道气泡长度的相对标准偏差随液相流率的增大而增大,气泡速度的相对标准偏差值随液相流率的增大先升高到一定值然后逐渐减小。气相分配不均匀性随液相流率和黏度的增大而增大,液相分配不均匀性随液相黏度的增大而减小,气相流率的变化对于两相分布影响不明显。研究结果有助于并行微通道的结构设计与优化,以实现更为均匀的气液两相流动分配。