Flow characteristics and multiparameter prediction modeling of cross-scale helical liquid-bridge flows

Helical liquid-bridge flow, a novel semi-constrained flow, shows significant potential for enhancing gas-liquid mass transfer and reactions. Research confirms millimeter-scale spiral bridges offer high efficiency and low pressure drop in distillation, absorption, and reaction, while micrometer-scale flow enables controllable gas-liquid contact in microchemical engineering. However, behavioral differences across scales remain unclear, and quantitative models for spiral design and flow prediction are lacking. This study systematically investigated flow characteristics and morphology evolution in millimeter and micrometer liquid bridges. Then, a multi-parameter flow model was established based on the experiments. In addition, the consistency was improved from 0.825 to 0.996 by minimizing the surface energy optimization model. The model can accurately predict key parameters such as the liquid bridge profile, providing a reliable theoretical basis and effective methods for the selection and optimization of helical structures in gas-liquid mass transfer and reaction processes at different scales.