Abstract

The present study aims to compare predictive methods for flow patterns and pressure drop with an extensive database obtained from the literature for rectangular channels with equivalent diameter between 0.1875 to 6 mm. The database comprises results for water/air and water/nitrogen obtained under adiabatic conditions covering liquid and gas superficial velocities between 0.0008 and 23.6 m/s and, 0.009 to 98.75 m/s, respectively. The criterion used to evaluate the pressure drop predictive methods was the parcel of the experimental results predicted with an error band of ± 30%. For flow patterns, the following indicators were used: the parcel of the data predicted correctly for each flow pattern and the total parcel of data predicted correctly.