Transitional pressure drop in a cavitied microchannel

A flow progression from laminar flow slippage to rotational vortices in cavitied microchannels is shown to cause a reversal of flow resistance, i.e. a reduced flow resistance at low Reynolds numbers compared to an unmodified microchannel but a comparatively higher flow resistance at high Reynolds numbers. Furthermore, an earlier transition of initial laminar flow to turbulent flow is suggested to be triggered by instabilities generated along shear layers, formed between the mainstream flow and rotational vortices in each cavity that modifies the sidewalls of microchannels.