Pressure drop and flow pattern of gas-non-Newtonian fluid two-phase flow in a square microchannel

An experiment of gas-non-Newtonian fluid flow was performed in a horizontal square microchannel to investigate the two-phase pressure drop and flow pattern. The pressure drops were measured and the images of the flow pattern were captured. In the nonNewtonian fluid, the flow pattern and flow regime map were different from those in water. The non-Newtonian behavior of the liquid phase also significantly affected the two-phase pressure drop. The relationship between the two-phase pressure drop and the gas and fluid flow rates relied on the flow pattern. A new two-phase friction multiplier correlation considering the gas-liquid flow rate ratio and the rheological properties of the liquid phase was developed to calculate the two-phase pressure drop. The new correlation can predict the experimental pressure drop data within the root mean square percentage errors of 12% for the gas-non-Newtonian fluid two-phase flow and 17% for the gas-water two-phase flow. (c) 2021 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.