Pressure loss of gaseous flow at a micro-tube outlet

Abstract

The pressure loss of gaseous flow at a micro-tube outlet was investigated numerically. The numerical methodology is based on the arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) method. Axis-symmetric compressible momentum and energy equations are solved to obtain the pressure loss coefficient of gaseous flow at a micro-tube outlet. Computed tube diameters are 50, 100, and 150 mu m. The stagnation pressure of upper stream of the tube is chosen in such a way that the Mach number at the tube outlet ranges from 0.1 to 1.2. The ambient (back) pressure is fixed at the atmospheric pressure. The pressure loss coefficients are compared with available experimental data for a conventionally sized tube. The effects of the Mach number and the tube diameter on the pressure loss coefficient are discussed and a correlation for the pressure loss coefficient is proposed.