On the CFD modelling of Taylor flow in microchannels

With the increasing interest in multiphase flow in microchannels and advancement in interface capturing techniques, there have recently been a number of attempts to apply computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to model Taylor flow in microchannels. The liquid film around the Taylor bubble is very thin at low Capillary number (Ca) and requires careful modelling to capture it. in this work, a methodology has been developed to model Taylor flow in microchannel using the ANSYS Fluent software package and a criterion for having a sufficiently fine mesh to capture the film is suggested. The results are shown to be in good agreement with existing correlations and previous valid modelling studies. The role played by the wall contact angle in Taylor bubble simulations is clarified. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.