Optical Feedback Interferometry for Velocity Measurement of Parallel Liquid-Liquid Flows in a Microchannel

Optical feedback interferometry (OFI) is a compact sensing technique with recent implementation for flow measurements in microchannels. We propose implementing OFI for the analysis at the microscale of multiphase flows starting with the case of parallel flows of two immiscible fluids. The velocity p...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Evelio E. Ramírez-Miquet, Julien Perchoux, Karine Loubière, Clément Tronche, Laurent Prat, Oscar Sotolongo-Costa
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2016-08-01
Series:Sensors
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/16/8/1233
Description
Summary:Optical feedback interferometry (OFI) is a compact sensing technique with recent implementation for flow measurements in microchannels. We propose implementing OFI for the analysis at the microscale of multiphase flows starting with the case of parallel flows of two immiscible fluids. The velocity profiles in each phase were measured and the interface location estimated for several operating conditions. To the authors knowledge, this sensing technique is applied here for the first time to multiphase flows. Theoretical profiles issued from a model based on the Couette viscous flow approximation reproduce fairly well the experimental results. The sensing system and the analysis presented here provide a new tool for studying more complex interactions between immiscible fluids (such as liquid droplets flowing in a microchannel).
ISSN:1424-8220