Measurement and Observation of Jet Thrust for Water Flow Through Micro-Orifice

Abstract

Owing to the many potential industrial and biological applications of microfluid mechanics, it has recently become an attractive research topic. However, researchers have mainly concentrated on microchannel flows and studies investigating micro-orifice flows are rare cases. In the present study, the results from experiments conducted on flows through micro-orifices with diameters of 100 μm, 50 μm, and 25 μm are presented. In these experiments, the thrust and diameter of observed outflow jets are measured. The resultant thrust and diameter of the jets for the 100 μm orifice flow agree with the numerical predictions obtained via the Navier–Stokes equations. Conversely, for an orifice with a diameter of 50 μm or less, it is found that the thrust is lower than that predicted and the existence of jet swell becomes apparent. With the estimated elastic stress proportional to squared mean velocity, a change in the elasticity of the water as it flows through a micro-orifice is strongly suggested.