Abstract
Purpose: Methods: Three-dimensional CFD modeling was conducted to analyze the flow structure and discharge flow rate corresponding to the variation in the geometry of the flow channel in a microtube. Additionally, experiments were carried out, and the discharge flow rate was measured at various inlet pressures and inclination angles of the microtube. Results: The quantitative data of velocity distribution and discharge flow rate were obtained. As the width and length of the microtip increased, the discharge flow rate decreased significantly because of the increase in the loss of pressure along the microtube. As the depth of the microtip increased, the flow rate also increased because of the reduction in the flow resistance. However, in this analysis, the variation in the angle of the microtip did not influence the flow rate. From the experimental results, it was observed that the flow rate increased linearly with the increase in the inlet pressure, and the effects of the inclination angle were not clearly observed in those test cases. The values of the flow rate obtained from the experiments were significantly lower than that obtained from the CFD analysis. This is because of the distortion of the shape of the flow path inside the microtube during the fabrication process. The distortion of the flow path might decrease the flow cross-sectional area, and it would increase the flow resistance inside the microtube. The variation in the flow rate corresponding to the variation in the inlet pressure showed similar trends. Conclusions: Therefore, the results of the numerical analysis obtained from this study can be efficiently utilized for optimizing the shape of the microtip inside a microtube.