Gas–aqueous liquid–oil three-phase flow was generated in a microchannel with a double T-junction. Under the squeezing of the dispersed aqueous phase at the second T-junction (T2), the splitting of bubbles generated from the first T-junction (T1) was investigated. During the bubble splitting process, the upstream gas–oil two-phase flow and the aqueous phase flow at T2 fluctuate in opposite phases, resulting in either independent or synchronous relationship between the instantaneous downstream and upstream bubble velocities depending on the operating conditions. Compared with two-phase flow, the modified capillary number and the ratio of the upstream velocity to the aqueous phase velocity were introduced to predict the bubble breakup time. The critical bubble breakup length and size laws of daughter bubbles/slugs were thereby proposed. These results provide an important guideline for designing microchannel structures for a precise manipulation of gas–liquid–liquid three-phase flow which finds potential applications among others in chemical synthesis. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2017

中文翻译：

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T型三通双通道中气-液-液三相流下的气泡分裂

气-液-油三相流在一个带有双T形接头的微通道中产生。在第二T形结（T2）处的分散水相的挤压下，研究了从第一T形结（T1）产生的气泡的分裂。在气泡分裂过程中，上游的油气两相流和T2处的水相流以相反的相位波动，从而导致瞬时下游和上游气泡速度之间的独立或同步关系，具体取决于运行条件。与两相流相比，引入了改进的毛细管数和上游速度与水相速度之比来预测气泡破裂时间。由此提出了临界气泡破裂长度和子气泡/团块的尺寸定律。这些结果为设计精确控制气-液-液三相流的微通道结构提供了重要的指导，从而发现了化学合成等方面的潜在应用。©2017美国化学工程师学会AIChE的Ĵ，2017年