Pressure Drop of Two-fluid Mixtures in a Y-typed Microchannel with Varying Cross-section Area

摘要

The present study investigates experimentally and numerically the single-phase flow of two-fluid mixtures (H_2SO_4 and NaHCO_3 solutions) and of water in a Y-typed micromixer with uniform, converging, and diverging cross-sections. The mean hydraulic diameter of the three kinds of main channel is approximately 174 μm. The experimental data of pressure drop agree with the theoretical predictions and CFD simulation results within 10%. Furthermore, the pressure distribution prediction for converging and diverging microchannels is consistent with that from CFD results. The pressure falls rapidly in the diverging microchannel near the entrance and slowly near the outlet. Such the pressure distribution may enable the forward flow of a bubble in a diverging microchannel.