Film thickness measurements in liquid–liquid slug flow regimes

At present there is significant interest in the development of small scale medical diagnostic equipment. These devices offer faster processing times and require smaller sample volumes than equivalent macro scale systems. Although significant attention has been focused upon their outputs, little attention has been devoted to the detailed fluid mechanics that govern the flow mechanisms within these devices. Conventionally, the samples in these small scale devices are segmented into distinct discrete droplets or slugs which are suspended in an organic carrier phase. Separating these slugs from the channel wall is a very thin film of the organic carrier phase.The magnitude of this film is the focus of the present study and the effects of sample slug length and carrier phase fluidic properties on the film are examined over a range of Capillary numbers. A non-intrusive optical technique was used to capture images of the flow from which the magnitude of the film was determined.The experimental results show that the film is not constant along the length of the slug; however above a threshold value for slug length, a region of constant film thickness exists. When compared with existing correlations in the literature, the experimental data showed reasonable agreement with the Bretherton model when the Capillary number was calculated based on the mean two phase flow velocity. However, significant differences were observed when the Capillary number was redefined to account for the mean velocity at the liquid interface, i.e., the mean slug velocity.Analysis of the experimental data revealed that it fell into two distinct flow regimes; a visco-capillary regime and a visco-inertial regime. A modified Taylor expression is presented to estimate the magnitude of the film for flows in the visco-capillary regime while a new model is put forward, based on Capillary and Weber numbers, for flows in the visco-inertial regime. Overall, this study provides some novel insights into parameters, such as aqueous slug length and carrier phase fluidic properties, that affect the thickness of the film in liquid–liquid slug flow regimes.     

Experiments on the flow of a thin liquid film over a horizontal stationary and rotating disk surface

Experiments on characterization of thin liquid films flowing over stationary and rotating disk surfaces are described. The thin liquid film was created by introducing deionized water from a flow collar at the center of an aluminum disk with a known initial film thickness and uniform radial velocity. Radial film thickness distribution was measured using a non-intrusive laser light interface reflection technique that enabled the measurement of the instantaneous film thickness over a finite segment of the disk. Experiments were performed for a range of flow rates between 3.0 lpm and 15.0 lpm, corresponding to Reynolds numbers based on the liquid inlet gap height and velocity between 238 and 1,188. The angular speed of the disk was varied from 0 rpm to 300 rpm. When the disk was stationary, a circular hydraulic jump was present in the liquid film. The liquid-film thickness in the subcritical region (downstream of the hydraulic jump) was an order of magnitude greater than that in the supercritical region (upstream of the hydraulic jump) which was of the order of 0.3 mm. As the Reynolds number increased, the hydraulic jump migrated toward the edge of the disk. In the case of rotation, the liquid-film thickness exhibited a maximum on the disk surface. The liquid-film inertia and friction influenced the inner region where the film thickness progressively increased. The outer region where the film thickness decreased was primarily affected by the centrifugal forces. A flow visualization study of the thin film was also performed to determine the characteristics of the waves on the free surface. At high rotational speeds, spiral waves were observed on the liquid film. It was also determined that the angle of the waves which form on the liquid surface was a function of the ratio of local radial to tangential velocity.     

高超声速溢流冷却实验研究

高超声速溢流冷却是一种新型的飞行器热防护方法,基本思想为:在高热流区布置溢流孔,控制冷却液以溢流方式流出,之后通过飞行器表面摩阻作用展布为液膜,形成热缓冲层以降低飞行器表面热流. 目前,溢流冷却技术还处于探索阶段,实现工程应用前还需开展大量的实验验证和机理研究工作. 本文首次开展溢流冷却的实验研究工作,采用热流测量、液膜厚度测量及液膜流动特性观测技术,搭建了完善的溢流冷却风洞实验平台,对溢流冷却热防护性能和高超声速条件下液膜流动规律进行了初步研究. 研究表明:(1) 高超声速流场中通过溢流能够在飞行器表面形成液膜并有效隔离外部高温气流,可降低飞行器表面热流率;(2) 楔面上的液膜前缘流动是一个逐渐减速的过程,增加冷却液流量液膜厚度变化不明显,但液膜前缘运动速度增大;(3) 液膜层存在表面波,在时间和空间方向发生演化,导致液膜厚度的微弱扰动;(4) 液膜层存在横向展宽现象,即液膜层宽度大于溢流缝宽度. 原因是液膜层与流场边界层条件不匹配,存在压力梯度,迫使冷却液向低压区流动,从而展宽液膜层,并且流量越高,横向展宽现象越明显.      

Numerical study on the effect of initial flow velocity on liquid film thickness of accelerated slug flow in a micro tube

Numerical simulation of air–water slug flows accelerated from steady states with different initial velocities in a micro tube is conducted. It is shown that the liquid film formed between the gas bubble and the wall in an accelerated flow is significantly thinner than that in a steady flow at the same instantaneous capillary number. Specifically, the liquid film thickness is kept almost unchanged just after the onset of acceleration, and then gradually increases and eventually converges to that of an accelerated flow from zero initial velocity. Due to the flow acceleration, the Stokes layer is generated from the wall, and the instant velocity profile can be given by superposition of the Stokes layer and the initial parabolic velocity profile of a steady flow. It is found that the velocity profile inside a liquid slug away from the bubble can be well predicted by the analytical solution of a single-phase flow with acceleration. The change of the velocity profile in an accelerated flow changes the balance between the inertia, surface tension and viscous forces around the meniscus region, and thus the resultant liquid film thickness. By introducing the displacement thickness, the existing correlation for liquid film thickness in a steady flow (Han and Shikazono, 2009) is extended so that it can be applied to a flow with acceleration from an arbitrary initial velocity. It is demonstrated that the proposed correlation can predict liquid film thickness at Re < 4600 within the range of ±10% accuracy.     

Wave development on a thinning liquid film

Experimental results are presented for the growth of surface waves on a liquid film that thins as it flows under gravity over the surface of an upright circular cone. The characteristics of the mean film are calculated on the assumption of quasi-parallel flow, and the actual mean thickness found to relate very closely to that found on this basis. The development of the film was found to fall into three phases: the entry zone in which the velocity profile of the film becomes established where no waves are visible, a region of wave growth in which amplitude, wave speed, and wave length all grow, and a final region in which amplitude and wave speed decline as the film thins further although wave length continues to grow. An empirical relationship is presented which expresses the wave number at any point on the cone in terms of the flow rate and a parameter based on the local Reynolds and Weber numbers and cone angle. It was found that for a given flow rate the maximum wave amplitude was reached at a value of wave number of 0·048.     

Pure steam condensation model with laminar film in a vertical tube

A new physical model for calculating the liquid film thickness and condensation heat transfer coefficient in a vertical condenser tube is proposed by considering the effects of gravity, liquid viscosity, and vapor flow in the core region of the flow. To estimate the velocity profile in the liquid film, the liquid film was assumed to be in Couette flow forced by the interfacial velocity at the liquid–vapor interface. For simplifying the calculation procedures, the interfacial velocity was estimated by introducing an empirical power-law velocity profile. The resulting film thickness and heat transfer coefficient from the model were compared with the experimental data and the results obtained from the other condensation models. The results demonstrated that the proposed model described the liquid film thinning effect by the vapor shear flow and predicted the condensation heat transfer coefficient from experiments reasonably well.     

An analytical investigation into filmwise condensation on a horizontal tube in a porous medium with suction at the tube surface

An analytical investigation is performed into the problem of steady filmwise condensation flow over the outside surface of a horizontal tube embedded in a porous medium with suction at the tube surface. As in classical film condensation problems, an assumption is made that the condensate and vapor layers meet at a common boundary rather than being separated by an intermediary two-phase zone. Furthermore, it is assumed that the condensate film has constant properties and conforms to Darcy’s law within the porous medium. By introducing an effective suction function to represent the effect of the wall suction on the thickness of the liquid film, both the local condensate film thickness and the local Nusselt number are derived using a simple numerical shooting method. The analytical results indicate that the mean Nusselt number depends on the Darcy number, the Jakob number, the Rayleigh number and the suction parameter. Furthermore, it is found that the local Nusselt number has a maximum value at the upper surface of the horizontal tube and reduces toward zero at the lower surface as a result of the finite thickness of the condensate layer.     

A multiphase,micro-scale PIV measurement technique for liquid film velocity measurements in annular two-phase flow

Prediction methods for two-phase annular flow require accurate knowledge of the velocity profile within the liquid film flowing at its perimeter as the gradients within this film influence to a large extent the overall transport processes within the entire channel. This film, however, is quite thin and variable and traditional velocimetry methods have met with only very limited success in providing velocity data. The present work describes the application of Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) to the measurement of velocity fields in the annular liquid flow. Because the liquid is constrained to distances on the order of a millimeter or less, the technique employed here borrows strategies from micro-PIV, but micro-PIV studies do not typically encounter the challenges presented by annular flow, including very large velocity gradients, a free surface that varies in position from moment to moment, the presence of droplet impacts and the passage of waves that can be 10 times the average thickness of the base film. This technique combines the seeding and imaging typical to micro-PIV with a unique lighting and image processing approach to deal with the challenges of a continuously varying liquid film thickness and interface. Mean velocity data are presented for air–water in two-phase co-current upward flow in a rectangular duct, which are the first detailed velocity profiles obtained within the liquid film of upward vertical annular flow to the authors’ knowledge. The velocity data presented here do not distinguish between data from waves and data from the base film. The resulting velocity profiles are compared with the classical Law of the Wall turbulent boundary layer model and found to require a decreased turbulent diffusivity for the model to predict well. These results agree with hypotheses previously presented in the literature.     

Numerical study of flow and heat transfer during a high-speed micro-drop impact on thin liquid films

Numerical simulation of high-speed micro-droplet impingement on thin liquid film covering a heated solid surface has been carried out. Effect of droplet Weber number and liquid film thickness on the characteristics of flow and heat transfer has been investigated using the coupled level set and volume of fluid method. The code is validated against both the experimental and numerical results from the literature. Results show that the crown dynamics is mostly affected by variations in the initial film thickness but is weakly influenced by changes in the Weber number. The liquid within the film can be categorized as three regions based on the heat transfer distribution: the static film region, the transition region, and the impact region. The transient local wall temperature shows three stages: first stage when the temperature decreases rapidly, followed by a second stage in which the temperature starts to rise and then becomes almost constant in the third stage. After drop impact, the local Nusselt number continuously increases until reaching a maximum value, and then decreases approaching the initial impact stage. Our analysis of the change in Weber number shows that larger Weber number contributes to intense temperature variation at the crater core relative to other radial locations. Lastly, the results reveal that the thinner liquid film leads to lower wall temperature and hence, higher average Nusselt number.     

Simulation and measurement of 3D shear-driven thin liquid film flow in a duct

Three-dimensional flow behavior of thin liquid film that is shear-driven by turbulent air flow in a duct is measured and simulated. Its film thickness and width are reported as a function of air velocity, liquid flow rate, surface tension coefficient, and wall contact angle. The numerical component of this study is aimed at exploring and assessing the suitability of utilizing the FLUENT-CFD code and its existing components, i.e. Volume of Fluid model (VOF) along with selected turbulence model, for simulating the behavior of 3D shear-driven liquid film flow, through a comparison with measured results. The thickness and width of the shear-driven liquid film are measured using an interferometric technique that makes use of the phase shift between the reflections of incident light from the top and bottom surfaces of the thin liquid film. Such measurements are quite challenging due to the dynamic interfacial instabilities that develop in this flow. The results reveal that higher air flow velocity decreases the liquid film thickness but increases its width, while higher liquid flow rate increases both its thickness and width. Simulated results provide good estimates of the measured values, and reveal the need for considering a dynamic rather than a static wall contact angle in the model for improving the comparison with measured values.     

Experimental study of the free surface deformation due to thermal convection in liquid bridges

Optical imaging was used to measure the free surface deformation due to thermal (Marangoni-buoyant) convection in liquid bridges of 5-cSt silicone oil. We obtained the free surface position averaged over time in both the steady and oscillatory regimes. The deviation of the free surface contour from the corresponding equilibrium shape was determined with an uncertainty of about 2 μm. This deviation grew linearly with the applied temperature difference with a proportionality coefficient depending on the liquid bridge volume at equilibrium. Shrinkage at the upper part of the liquid bridge was slightly greater than bulging at the lower with the sum of the maximum deviations at both parts being about 30 μm near the onset of oscillations. This sum, normalized with the radius of the supporting disks, was of the same order of magnitude as the Capillary number. We observed the influence of thermal expansion, surface tension variation over the free surface, and fluid motion separately. The local mean curvature was also calculated and compared with its value at equilibrium, showing that the hydrodynamic effects were important.     

The analysis of a mechanism of liquid replenishment and draining in horizontal two-phase flow

There is a regime of two-phase flow in which large waves or surges pass rapidly along a horizontal tube accompanied by splashing, wave-breaking and entrainment with the result that water is thrown to the upper surface of the tube. Between surges the film on the top surface is depleted by draining under gravity and by evaporation if the tube is heated. If the interval between surges is sufficiently long a dry patch may begin to form. In this paper, theory is given for the calculation of the film thickness left behind on the top surface and for the calculation of the time to dryout. The theory includes both the effect of the boundary layer developement during replenishment of the film and also the effect of the axial deceleration of the film at the point where the liquid replenishment ceases. Finally, the predicted variation of film thickness is compared with experimental film thickness traces obtained in this type of horizontal two-phase flow. The agreement is found to be very satisfactory. This analysis is of interest in connection with the prevention of permanent and intermittent dryout at low qualities in nuclear power station evaporators.     

Film thickness effects on calibrations of a narrowband thermochromic liquid crystal

Thermochromic liquid crystals (TLCs) have been widely employed by researchers in heat transfer and fluid flow communities as a reliable and non-intrusive temperature measurement tool due to their unique optical properties such as birefringence, optical activity, circular dichroism and selective reflection of colours in the visible spectrum as function of temperature. The use of narrowband TLCs are attractive for temperature and heat transfer measurements due to their higher precision in temperature measurements and due to the fact that narrowband TLCs are less affected by variations in illumination-viewing angles and illumination disturbances. Narrowband TLCs have been used with full intensity-matching methods to provide robust image processing for measurements of thermal parameters in transient heat transfer tests. Calibration of narrowband TLCs is necessary in order to obtain the intensity-temperature relationship of the TLCs. Film thickness is one of the factors which affects calibrations of TLCs. In this research, film thicknesses of 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 μm were investigated on green intensity-based calibrations of R35C1W TLC during heating and cooling. Results showed an increase in magnitude of peak green intensity with increasing film thickness, with a percentage increase of nearly 18% when film thickness increased from 10 to 50 μm. Results also showed an inconsistent shift in temperature at which peak green intensity occurs, with a maximum shift of 0.40 °C, suggesting that film thickness effects may be insignificant for narrowband TLCs compared with wideband TLCs. A theoretical method for estimating the volume of TLC coating required to achieve a desired film thickness has also been described in this paper, based on the surface area and dry solids content of the TLC. The method is easily implemented and applicable for sprayable TLC coatings.     

Three-dimensional lattice Boltzmann simulations of droplet formation in a cross-junction microchannel

An immiscible liquid–liquid multiphase flow in a cross-junction microchannel was numerically studied by the lattice Boltzmann method. An improved, immiscible lattice BGK model was proposed by introducing interfacial tension force based on the continuum surface force (CSF) method. The recoloring step was replaced by the anti-diffusion scheme in the mixed region to reduce the side-effect and control the thickness of the interface. The present method was tested by the simulations on a static bubble and the simulations of Taylor deformation. Laplace’s law, spurious velocities, the thickness of interface, the pressure distribution and the small deformation theory were examined. It proves that our model is more advantageous for the simulation of immiscible fluids over the original immiscible lattice BGK model. The simulations of droplet formation in a cross-junction microchannel were performed and compared with the experiments. The numerical results show good agreements with the experimental ones for the evolution of droplet and the droplet size at various inlet velocities. Besides, a dimensionless analysis was carried out. The resulting droplet sizes depend on the Capillary number to a great extent under current conditions.     

Multilayer film casting of modified Giesekus fluids Part 2. Linear stability analysis

A linear stability analysis of the multilayer film casting of polymeric fluids has been conducted. A modified Giesekus model was used to characterize the rheological behaviors of the fluids. The critical draw ratio at the onset of draw resonance was found to depend on the elongational and shear viscosities of the fluids. Extensional-thickening has a stabilizing effect, whereas shear-thinning and extensional-thinning have destabilizing effects. The critical draw ratios for bilayer films of various thickness fractions are bounded by those for single layer films of the two fluids. When the two fluids have a comparable elongational viscosity, the critical draw ratio at a given Deborah number varies linearly with thickness fraction. When one fluid has a much larger elongational viscosity, it dominates the flow and the critical draw ratios at most thickness fractions remain close to its critical draw ratio as a single layer film. When the dominating fluid exhibits extensional-thickening, a film with a certain thickness fraction has more than one critical draw ratio at a given Deborah number and may not exhibit draw resonance within some range of the Deborah number.     

Numerical simulations of droplet train and free surface jet impingement

The cooling behavior of the impingement of a droplet train, and free surface jets over a heated and pre-wetted surface is explored employing an Algebraic Volume-of-Fluid methodology. The code is based on a modified version of the two-phase numerical solver interFoam (OpenFOAM) (Trujillo and Lewis, 2012). Two versions of the free surface jet are studied. The first consists of a fully-developed profile exiting the nozzle, and the second is characterized by a uniform velocity distribution. Results show that both jet configurations have higher cooling performance than the droplet train locally and globally, with the fully-developed case being the most effective of the two jet arrangements. Locally, the performance is measured by radial profiles of the boundary-layer-displacement thickness and heat transfer coefficient. Globally, the cooling effectiveness is directly proportional to the surface area that resides within the high-convection region, i.e. before the boundary layer separation point. On a temporal basis, the liquid film within the impingement region of the droplet train exhibits pronounced variations in velocity magnitude and film thickness. This is directly attributed to the nature of continuous droplet impacts affecting the impingement region, and gives rise to an unsteady cooling and heating of the fluid near the wall. In contrast for the jets, the film and the corresponding free surface are nearly steady with only minor perturbations.     

Theory of ice-skating

Almost frictionless skating on ice relies on a thin layer of melted water insulating mechanically the blade of the skate from ice. Using the basic equations of fluid mechanics and Stefan law, we derive a set of two coupled equations for the thickness of the film and the length of contact, a length scale which cannot be taken as its value at rest. The analytical study of these equations allows to define a small a-dimensional parameter depending on the longitudinal coordinate which can be neglected everywhere except close to the contact points at the front and the end of the blade, where a boundary layer solution is given. This solution provides without any calculation the order of magnitude of the film thickness, and its dependence with respect to external parameters like the velocity and mass of the skater and the radius of profile and bite angle of the blade, in good agreement with the numerical study. Moreover this solution also shows that a lubricating water layer of macroscopic thickness always exists for standard values of ice skating data, contrary to what happens in the case of cavitation of droplets due to thermal heating (Leidenfrost effect).     

Cooling of a viscoelastic film during unsteady extrusion from an annular die

The unsteady extrusion of a viscoelastic film from an annular and axisymmetric die is examined. External, elastic, viscous and inertia forces deform the film, which is simultaneously cooled via forced convection to the ambient air. This moving boundary problem is solved by mapping the liquid/air interfaces onto fixed ones and by employing a regular perturbation expansion for all the dependent variables. The ratio of the film thickness to its inner radius at the exit of the die is used as the small parameter in the perturbation expansion. The fluid mechanical aspects of the process depend on the Stokes, Deborah, Reynolds, and Capillary numbers. The heat transfer in the film and to the environment gives rise to four additional dimensionless groups: the Peclet, Biot and Brinkman numbers and the activation energy, which determines the temperature dependence of fluid viscosity and elasticity. A variable heat transfer coefficient is also considered. For typical fluid properties and process conditions, the Peclet number is very large. In this case it is the ratio of the Biot to the Peclet number, the Stanton number, which arises in the energy conservation equation. It is shown that film cooling becomes important when the Stanton number and/or the activation energy are in the high-end of their typical values. In such cases, the cooling of the parison leads to a more uniform flow and shape for the film. The influence on the process of a variable heat transfer coefficient and the Brinkman number is small. Received: 7 April 1999/Accepted: 10 August 1999     

滴状模式下液桥形成及断裂的电流体动力学特性研究

对电场作用下微通道荷电液滴脱落过程中液桥形成及断裂的显微演变特征进行了可视化实验研究.借助时空分辨率较高的高速摄像技术精确捕捉了电场作用下液桥形成及断裂的界面演化过程,研究了液桥的界面结构变化及其断裂的动力学显微演变行为,获得了时间特征数、电邦德数及半月面形成角对液桥长度及断裂顺序的作用规律.实验结果显示,液桥断裂长度取决于黏度与表面张力之比,而受荷电弛豫时间的影响甚微,低电压工况下各实验介质液桥相对长度的变化并不明显,而在较高电压工况下相对液桥长度的增长速度加快.随着电邦德数的不断增加,液桥长度的变化在较高邦德数下更为明显且存在突变区,此时伴随着雾化模式的转变,表明液桥的突变恰恰是雾化模式过渡的信号.不同物性介质的射流过渡行为由于液桥上下游形成角的变化而存在较大差异.对于无水乙醇介质,电邦德数的增加使滴状模式首先过渡到纺锤模式,而对于生物柴油,滴状模式后会首先出现脉动模式而非纺锤模式.      

On the dynamic behavior of a liquid droplet impacting upon an inclined heated surface

The dynamic behavior of a water droplet impinging upon a heated surface was shown to be significantly different, depending on the normal momentum of the impinging droplet before impact. This experimental study focused mainly on the effects of the impinging angle of the droplet on impact dynamics and its dependence on surface temperature. At the surface temperature of the nucleate boiling regime, disintegration of the droplet did not occur, whereas the deforming droplet adhered to the surface. The liquid film was spread and contracted several times on the horizontal surface, but the expanded droplet merely slipped without noticeable contraction on the inclined surfaces. In the film boiling regime, the impinging droplet spread over the surface as a liquid film separated from the surface by the vapor produced. Depending on the magnitude of the normal momentum of droplet, disintegration into several irregular shapes of liquid elements occurred in the case of the horizontal and 30°-inclined surfaces. The impinging droplet in the case of the 60°-inclined surface did not break up and tended to recover its original spherical shape. Received: 16 February 1999/Accepted: 9 November 1999