Development Length in Planar Channel Flows of Newtonian Fluids Under the Influence of Wall Slip

Abstract

This technical brief presents a numerical study regarding the required development length (L=Lfd/H) to reach fully developed flow conditions at the entrance of a planar channel for Newtonian fluids under the influence of slip boundary conditions. The linear Navier slip law is used with the dimensionless slip coefficient k¯l=kl(μ/H), varying in the range 0<k¯l≤1. The simulations were carried out for low Reynolds number flows in the range 0<Re≤100, making use of a rigorous mesh refinement with an accuracy error below 1%. The development length is found to be a nonmonotonic function of the slip velocity coefficient, increasing up to k¯l≈0.1-0.4 (depending on Re) and decreasing for higher k¯l. We present a new nonlinear relationship between L, Re, and k¯l that can accurately predict the development length for Newtonian fluid flows with slip velocity at the wall for Re of up to 100 and k¯l up to 1.