Pressure drop of two-phase plug flow in round mini-channels: Influence of surface wettability

In the present experimental study, the pressure drop of two-phase plug flows in round mini-channels was investigated for three different tube materials, i.e., glass, polyurethane and Teflon, respectively, with their inner diameters ranging from 1.62 to 2.16 mm. Air and water were used as the test fluids. In the wet-plug flow regime (wet wall condition at the gas portions), the pressure drop was reasonably predicted by the homogeneous flow model or by the correlations of Mishima and Hibiki [K. Mishima, T. Hibiki, Some characteristics of air-water two-phase flow in small diameter vertical tubes, Int. J. Multiphase Flow 22 (1996) 703–712] and Chisholm [D. Chisholm, A theoretical basis for the Lockhart-Martinelli correlation for two-phase flow, Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer 10 (1967) 1767–1778]. On the other hand, in the dry-plug flow regime (dry wall condition at the gas portions), the role of the moving contact lines turned out to be significant. To take into account the effect of the moving contact lines, a modified Lockhart–Martinelli type correlation was proposed, which fitted the measured pressure-drop data within the mean deviation of 6%.