Elongated bubbles in microchannels. Part I: Experimental study and modeling of elongated bubble velocity

The velocity of elongated vapor bubbles exiting two horizontal micro-evaporator channels with refrigerant R-134a was studied. Experiments with tube diameters of 509 and 790 μm, mass velocities from 200 to 1500 kg/m2 s, vapor qualities from 2% to 19% and a nominal saturation temperature of 30 °C were analyzed with a fast, high-definition digital video camera. It was found from image processing of numerous videos that the elongated bubble velocity relative to that of homogeneous flow increased with increasing bubble length until a plateau was reached, and also increased with increasing channel diameter and increasing mass velocity. Furthermore an analytical model developed for a diabatic two-phase flow, has been proposed that is able to predict these trends. In addition, the model shows that the relative elongated bubble velocity should decrease with increasing pressure, which is consistent with the physics of two-phase flow.