SUMMARY

This work investigates the two-phase fluid behavior present during the displacement of liquid with gas and the displacement of gas with liquid in channels with 200 µm diameter using both computational and experimental methods. An air-water two-phase flow visualization study was performed using transparent 200 µm glass microchannels. Computational models were developed for the prediction of bulk fluid movement during the displacement processes. These models were validated using experimental data obtained from the flow visualization study. Further modeling efforts included the development of preliminary coupled heat and mass transfer models for the investigation of the impact of residual liquid films on overall mass transfer performance.