An Experimental Study on Regime Limit and Pressure Drop of Dry-plug Flow in Round Mini-channels

원형 미소 채널 내 드라이 플러그류의 유동 영역 한계와 압력 강하에 관한 실험적 연구

In the present experimental study, the regime limit and pressure drop of dry-plug flow (dry wall condition at the gas portions of plug flow) in round mini-channels has been investigated. The air-water mixture was flowed through the round mini-channels made of Teflon, where the tube diameters ranged from 1.26 to 2.06 mm. For the present experimental range, with decreasing of the tube diameter, the transition between the plug and slug flows (wet and dry) happened at the higher gas superficial velocity region, which were in good agreement with the previous flow pattern maps tested. On the other hand, the transition between the wet- and dry-plug flows was little affected by the change of the tube diameter. In the pressure drop of dry-plug flows, among the correlations tested, the Lee and Lee's (2008) correlation best fitted the measured pressure drop data within the mean deviation of 10% for the present experimental range.