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A two-phase air–water flow experiment was carried out to obtain flow pattern, void fraction, and pressure drop data from a vertical micro-channel, which was a fused silica tube with a diameter of 0.53 mm and a length of 320 mm. The adiabatic two-phase flow behaviors during vertical upward direction were experimentally investigated, and consequently, a buoyancy effect can be detected in this work. A flow visualization study was performed, leading to observation of slug flow, throat–annular flow, churn flow, annular flow, and annular–rivulet flow. The shape of the interfacial surface in the slug flow pattern was deformed during vertical upward flow, which was different from the bullet-shaped gas slug observed in the horizontal channel. The flow visualization results also indicate that the flow pattern map for vertical upward flow is not completely compatible with that for horizontal flow. Image analysis was performed to determine the void fraction, which increases linearly with increasing volumetric quality. The vertical upward flow gave a lower void fraction than the horizontal flow. The frictional pressure drop can be increased when the churn flow is formed in the channel. In addition, vertical upward flow can result in higher pressure drop when compared with the horizontal channel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In the present study, the air–water two-phase flow characteristics including flow pattern and pressure drop inside a plate heat exchanger are experimentally investigated. A plate heat exchanger with single pass under the condition of counter flow is operated for the experiment. Three stainless steel commercial plates with a corrugated sinusoidal shape of unsymmetrical chevron angles of 55° and 10° are utilized for the pressure drop measurement. A transparent plate having the same configuration as the stainless steel plates is cast and used as a cover plate in order to observe the flow pattern inside the plate heat exchanger. The air–water mixture flow which is used as a cold stream is tested in vertical downward and upward flow. The results from the present experiment show that the annular-liquid bridge flow pattern appeared in both upward and downward flows. However, the bubbly flow pattern and the slug flow pattern are only found in upward flow and downward flow, respectively. The variation of the water and air velocity has a significant effect on the two-phase pressure drop. Based on the present data, a two-phase multiplier correlation is proposed for practical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Two-phase air–water flow characteristics are experimentally investigated in horizontal circular micro-channels. Test sections are made of fused silica. The experiments are conducted based on three different inner diameters of 0.53, 0.22 and 0.15mm with the corresponding lengths of 320, 120 and 104mm, respectively. The test runs are done at superficial velocities of gas and liquid ranging between 0.37–42.36 and 0.005–3.04m/s, respectively. The flow visualisation is facilitated by systems mainly including stereozoom microscope and high-speed camera. The flow regime maps developed from the observed flow patterns are presented. The void fractions are determined based on image analysis. New correlation for two-phase frictional multiplier is also proposed for practical applications. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper is a continuation of the authors’ previous work. Two-phase air–water flow experiments are performed in a horizontal circular micro-channel. The test section is made of a fused silica tube with an inner diameter of 0.15mm and a length of 104mm. The flow phenomena, which are liquid/unstable annular alternating flow (LUAAF), liquid/annular alternating flow (LAAF), and annular flow, are observed and recorded by a high-speed camera mounted together with a stereozoom microscope. A flow pattern map is presented in terms of the phase superficial velocities and is compared with those of other researchers obtained from different working fluids. Image analysis is performed to determine the void fraction, which increases non-linearly with increasing volumetric quality. It is revealed that the two-phase frictional multiplier data show a dependence on flow pattern rather than mass flux. Based on the present data, a new pressure drop correlation is proposed for practical applications. According to the present study, in general the data for the two-phase air–water flow characteristics are found to comply with those of working fluids other than air–water mixtures. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Adiabatic two-phase air–water flow characteristics, including the two-phase flow pattern as well as the void fraction and two-phase frictional pressure drop, in a circular micro-channel are experimentally studied. A fused silica channel, 320mm long, with an inside diameter of 0.53mm is used as the test section. The test runs are done at superficial velocity of gas and liquid ranging between 0.37–16 and 0.005–3.04m/s, respectively. The flow pattern map is developed from the observed flow patterns i.e. slug flow, throat-annular flow, churn flow and annular-rivulet flow. The flow pattern map is compared with those of other researchers obtained from different working fluids. The present single-phase experiments also show that there are no significant differences in the data from the use of air or nitrogen gas, and water or de-ionized water. The void fraction data obtained by image analysis tends to correspond with the homogeneous flow model. The two-phase pressure drops are also used to calculate the frictional multiplier. The multiplier data show a dependence on flow pattern as well as mass flux. A new correlation of two-phase frictional multiplier is also proposed for practical application. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Flow patterns and pressure drop of upward liquid single-phase flow and air–water two-phase flow in sinusoidal wavy channels are experimentally studied. The test section is formed by a sinusoidal wavy wall of 1.00 m length with a wave length of 67.20mm, an amplitude of 5.76mm. Different phase shifts between the side walls of the wavy channel of 0°, 90° and 180° are investigated. The flow phenomena, which are bubbly flow, slug flow, churn flow, and dispersed bubbly flow are observed and recorded by high-speed camera. When the phase shifts are increased, the onset of the transition from the bubbly flow to the churn flow shifts to a higher value of superficial air velocity, and the regions of the slug flow and the churn flow are smaller. In other words, the regions of the bubbly flow and the dispersed bubbly flow are larger as the phase shift increases. The slug flow pattern is only found in the test sections with phase shifts of 0° and 90°. Recirculating gas bubbles are always found in the troughs of the corrugations. The recirculating is higher when the phase shifts are larger. The relationship between the two-phase multipliers calculated from the measured pressure drops, and the Martinelli parameter is compared with the Lockhart–Martinelli correlation. The correlation in the case of turbulent–turbulent condition is shown to fit the data very well for the phase shift of 0° but shows greater deviation when the phase shifts are higher. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Two-phase flow pattern, pressure drop and void fraction in horizontal and inclined upward air–water two-phase flow in a mini-gap annular channel are experimentally studied. A concentric annular test section at the length of 880mm with an outer diameter of 12.5mm and inner diameter of 8mm is used in the experiments. The flow phenomena, which are plug flow, slug flow, annular flow, annular/slug flow, bubbly/plug flow, bubbly/slug–plug flow, churn flow, dispersed bubbly flow and slug/bubbly flow, are observed and recorded by high-speed camera. A slug flow pattern is found only in the horizontal channel while slug/bubbly flow patterns are observed only in inclined channels. When the inclination angle is increased, the onset of transition from the plug flow region to the slug flow region (for the horizontal channel) and from the plug flow region to slug/bubbly flow region (for inclined channels) shift to a lower value of superficial air velocity. Small shifts are found for the transition line between the dispersed bubbly flow and the bubbly/plug flow, the bubbly/plug flow and the bubbly/slug–plug flow, and the bubbly/plug flow and the plug flow. The rest of the transition lines shift to a higher value of superficial air velocity. Considering the effect of flow pattern on the pressure drop in the horizontal tube at low liquid velocity, the occurrence of slug flow stops the rise of pressure drop for a short while, before rising again after the air velocity has increased. However, the pressure does not rise abruptly in the tubes with θ =30° and 60° when the slug/bubbly flow occurs. At low gas and liquid velocity, the pressure drop increases, when the inclination angles changes from horizontal to 30° and 60°. Void fraction increases with increasing gas velocity and decreases with increasing liquid velocity. After increasing the inclination angle from horizontal to θ =30° and 60°, the void fraction appears to be similar, with a decreasing trend when the inclination angle increases. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights: [•] Slug flow gives better air–water heat transfer results, compared with the gas core flow. [•] For a given flow pattern, the Nusselt number is dependent on superficial Reynolds numbers. [•] Two-phase air–water flow results in heat transfer enhancement up to 80% in comparison to the liquid flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Flow boiling experiments with R-134a flowing in horizontal and vertical mini-channels are performed to obtain flow visualization and heat transfer data. A 1.75mm diameter channel with a length of 600mm is used as test section. Two sets of the horizontal flow and vertical upward flow data are presented based on a mass flux range of 200–1000kg/m2 s, a heat flux range of 1–80kW/m2 and a saturation pressure range of 7–13bar. Flow visualization and heat transfer results show heat transfer coefficient depending on flow pattern. The results also indicate that flow regime transition and heat transfer coefficient tend to depend on flow direction under the certain experimental conditions. In addition, the comparisons between the experimental data and the predictions recommended for either macro-scale flow boiling or micro-scale flow boiling are presented in this work. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This research focuses on heat transfer to R-134a during flow boiling in a 1.75mm internal diameter tube. Flow visualisation and heat transfer experiments are conducted to obtain heat transfer coefficients for different flow patterns. The measured data in each flow regime are compared with predictions from a three-zone flow boiling model. The calculations are in fair agreement with the experimental results which correspond in particular to slug flow, throat-annular flow and churn flow regimes under conditions of low heat flux. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

An experimental study has been performed to examine the effects of gap size on the flow pattern maps of air-water two-phase flow inside a mini-gap annular channel with inclination angles (θ) of 0°, 30°, and 60°. The tests are conducted for three different sizes of the inner diameters (Di) of the concentric annular test section-namely 8, 10, and 11 mm-while the outer diameter is equal to 12.5 mm. The flow pattern maps are presented for various types of flow including plug flow, slug flow, annular/slug flow, annular flow, bubbly/plug flow, bubbly/slug-plug flow, churn flow, and dispersed bubbly flow, regarding the alteration of gap sizes and inclination angles. According to the experimental conclusions, the angle of inclination and the various gap sizes are influential in the transition of flow regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]