Multiphase phase flows occur in many engineering and bio-medical applications. Bubble formation in microchannels can be beneficial or harmful depending upon their influence on the operation and performance of microfludic devices. Potential uses of bubble generation found in many applications such as microreactors, micropump, and micromixers. In the present work the flow and mixing process in a passive microchannel mixer were numerically investigated. Effects of velocity, and inlet width ratio (Dgas/Dliquid) on the two phase flow were studied. Numerical results are obtained for 2-dimensional and 3-dimesional cases with a finite volume CFD code and using structured grids. Different liquid-gas Reynolds number ratios (Reliquid/Regas) were used ranging from 4 to 42. In addition, three values of the inlet width ratio (Dgas/Dliquid) were used. Results for the 3-D cases capture the actual shape of the air bubble with the thin film between the bubble and the walls. Also, increasing Reliquid increases the rate of the development of the air bubble. The bubble length increases with the increase of Dgas/Dliquid. For the same values of Re, the rate of growth of the bubble increases with the increase of Dgas/Dliquid. Finally, a correlation is provided to predict the length of the bubble with liquid-gas Reynolds number ratio (Reliquid/Regas) and tube width.
Two-phase flow behaviour and performance of polymer electrolyte membrane electrolysers: Electrochemical and optical characterisation
