Generalized Two-Phase Pressure Drop and Heat Transfer Correlations in Evaporative Micro/Minichannels

Abstract

Existing databases and correlations in literature on the microchannel pressure drop and heat transfer are reviewed in this paper. From this review, it is found that none of the existing correlations can cover the wide ranges of working fluids, operational conditions, and different microchannel dimensions. In addition, the importance of the Bond number, which relates the nominal bubble dimension or capillary parameter with the channel size, is revealed in this paper. Using the Bond number, improved correlations of pressure drop and heat transfer are established, which predict the existing data well over a wide range of channel sizes, fluids, and operational conditions.