Gas Flow through Microchannels 

Aim: To experimentally investigate gas flow through microchannels

Theory

To study gas flow through microchannels, a dimensional analysis of parameters concerned is

conducted. Pressure drop for a gas flow through microchannel depends on the following
parameters
Δ Δ , , , , , ,

Applying Buckingham Pi theorem to the above dependence, we get

, , ,

ε is a geometric parameter while σ is a material constant

For microchannels, the conditions are such that 1 and 0.001 0.1
Therefore, gas study in microchannels can be studied in macroscopic systems simply by reducing
Reynolds number and increasing Knudsen number, both of which can be accomplished by
reducing density.

Experimental Setup and Procedure

A schematic of the experimental setup is shown below

reservoir  reservoir
test section
to atmosphere 

pressure taps
air 
pump 

An air pump was used to pump nitrogen gas through the test section (straight channel of 2.9mm
diameter and 6cm length). Pressure is measured at different points on the test section using
pressure gauge as shown in the figure.

Results and Discussion

The following table shows the distribution of normalized pressure, i.e. / / /

(where p0 is the exit pressure) at various locations in the test section for different flow rates
 Table 1: Normalized pressure with position for different flow rates 

z/l
Q (sccm) Kn0 1 0.75 0.5 0.25 0

50 0.0089 1 1.170694 1.321512 1.450896 1.574045

100 0.0062 1 1.159763 1.304465 1.427111 1.543303
150 0.0049 1 1.154388 1.290199 1.405723 1.515268
200 0.0041 1 1.148347 1.281323 1.389634 1.495264

These variations are plotted below

1.6
p'(z/l)  vs  z/l
1.5 50 
sccm
1.4 100 
sccm
p'(z/l)

1.3

1.2

1.1

1
0 0.25 0.5 0.75 1
z/l  
Figure 1: Normalized pressure with location

It is clearly seen that pressure ratio decreases with increasing flow rate. Also, for a given flow
rate, the variation of pressure ratio, and hence pressure, is non-linear along the length of the
channel, contrary to macroscopic regime. This is due to collapse of the no-slip boundary
condition. The variation for 100 sccm flow rate is compared with that obtained from the
literature [1]:

8 8 1 16 16 1

where P is the pressure ratio across microchannel and z’ = z/l

The theoretical and experimental variations are found to be in good agreement, with less than
1.5% difference.
 p'(z/l)  vs  z/l
1.6

1.5
Experim
ent
1.4
p'(z/l)
1.3

1.2

1.1

1
0 0.25 0.5 0.75 1
z/l  
Figure 2: Pressure ratio with location ‐ theory and experiment for 100 sccm flow rate

The variation of pressure ratio with flow rate is also plotted and a decreasing trend is obtained.
This is because, as flow rate rises, both inlet and exit pressure rise at different rates. Inlet
pressure rises at a slower rate compared to exit pressure, therefore their ratio falls. However,
pressure drop increases with flow rate, as predicted by theory

1.6
Pressure ratio with flow rate
1.58

1.56
P

1.54

1.52

1.5

1.48
0 50 100 150 200 250
Q (sccm)
 
Figure 3: Pressure ratio versus flow rate
 Pressure drop vs flow rate
3

2.5

2
Δp (mbar)

1.5

0.5

0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Q (sccm)  
Figure 4: Pressure drop versus flow rate

Conclusion

Pressure was measured at different points in the test section and compared with theoretical
variation obtained from literature and was found to be in good agreement. The pressure drop
across the channel was found to increase with flow rate, as expected, while inlet-to-exit pressure
ratio was found to decrease with flow rate. This was attributed to different rates of increase in
inlet and exit pressures

References

[1] Cai, C., Sun, Q., & Boyd, I. D., (2007) “Gas flows in microchannels and microtubes”,
Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 589, pp. 305-314