Investigation of Liquid Flow in Microchannels

Liquid flow in microchannels is investigated both experimentally and numerically in this work. The experiments are carried out in microchannels with hydraulic diameters from 244 to 974 m at Reynolds numbers ranging from 230 to 6500. The pressure drop in these microchannels is measured in situ, and is also determined by correcting global measurements for inlet and exit losses. Onset of turbulence is verified by flow visualization. The experimental measurements of pressure drop are compared to numerical predictions. Results from this work show that conventional theory may be used to successfully predict the flow behavior in microchannels in the range of dimensions considered here.