EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS OF LAMINAR, TRANSITIONAL TO TURBULENT GAS FLOW IN A MICRO-CHANNEL

This paper presents experimental results on flow characteristics of laminar, transitional to turbulent gas flows through micro-channels. The experiments were performed for three micro-channels. The micro-channels were etched into silicon wafers, capped with glass, and their hydraulic diameter are 69.48, 99.36 and 147.76 mu m. The pressure was measured at seven locations along the channel length to determine local values of Mach number and friction factor for a wide range of flow regime from laminar to turbulent flow. Flow characteristics in transitional flow regime to turbulence were obtained. The result shows that f.Re is a function of Mach number and higher than incompressible value due to the compressibility effect. The values of f.Re were compared with f.Re correlations in available literature.