Computational analysis of wall roughness effects for liquid flow in micro-conduits

Fluid flow in microchannels or microtubes may differ in terms of wall frictional effects, and hence flow rates, when compared to macrochannels. Focusing on steady laminar fully developed flow of a liquid in different micro-conduits, relative surface roughness is captured in terms of a porous medium layer (PML) model. The new approach allows the evaluation of microfluidics variables as a function of PML characteristics, i.e., layer thickness and porosity, uncertainties in measuring hydraulic diameters as well as the inlet Reynolds number Specifically, realistic values for the PML Darcy number relative surface roughness, and actual flow area are taken into account to match observed friction factors in micro-conduits. The model predictions compared well with measured data sets for systems with significant relative roughness values. Although other surface effects may have influenced the experimental results as well, surface roughness is found to affect the friction factor and hence the flow parameters in relatively rough channels, e.g., those which are made of aluminum or stainless steel by way of micro-cutting processes.