Laminar Liquid Flow Through Silicon Microchannels

The present work deals with the analysis of the fully developed laminar flow through silicon microchannels. The main integral flow parameters, such as the Poiseuille number (fRe), the momentum flux correction factor, the kinetic energy correction factor, the asymptotic incremental pressure drop number and the approximate value of the hydrodynamic entrance length are numerically evaluated for trapezoidal and double-trapezoidal cross sections of the silicon microchannels. The results are quoted in tabular and in graphic form as a function of the microchannel aspect ratio. Finally, very simple polynomial representations of the integral flow parameters are given. These numerical data are a useful tool for technicians and designers involved in micro-fluidic applications and it is demonstrated that these results can be used (instead of or before a CFD simulation approach) for a first evaluation of the pressure drop for liquid flows through smooth microchannels having a hydraulic diameter greater than 30 um.