Steady evaporating flow in rectangular microchannels

Analytical and numerical solutions are presented for steady evaporating flow in open microchannels having a rectangular cross section and a uniform depth. The flow, driven by the axial gradient of capillary pressure, generally consists of an entry region where the meniscus is attached to the top corners of the channel followed by a jump-like transition to a corner-flow region in which the meniscus progressively recedes into the bottom corners of the channel. Illustrative numerical solutions are used to guide the derivation of an easily applied analytical approximation for the maximum sustainable heat flux or capillary limit.