Effect of Viscosity on the Hydrodynamics of Liquid Processes in Microchannels

Abstract The hydrodynamics of single‐phase liquid flow with relatively high fluid viscosities in a microchannel was investigated experimentally. The results showed that the conventional theory could predict the single‐phase flow with high fluid viscosities in microchannels. Furthermore, the effect of viscosity on the slug flow of two immiscible liquid phases in a microchannel was studied with high‐speed imaging techniques. It was found that a higher dispersed‐phase viscosity quickened the flow pattern transition from slug flow to parallel flow and resulted in smaller slugs. A modified capillary number representing the mutual effects of the viscosities of the continuous phase and the dispersed phase was proposed for predicting the slug sizes in microchannels.