Laminar flow resistance in short microtubes

We have measured the pressure drop for the flow of liquid through a series of short microtubes ranging from 80 to 150 μm in diameter with aspect ratios between L/D = 2 and L/D = 5. These dimensions were selected to resemble lumens of implantable microstents that are under consideration for the treatment of glaucoma. For physiologically relevant pressure drops and flow rates, we have determined that a fully-developed laminar pipe flow may be assumed throughout the microtube when (L/D) > 0.20Re, where Re is the Reynolds number based on the diameter, D, and L is the length of the tube. We have examined flow rates between 0.1 and 10 μL/s, corresponding to Reynolds numbers between 1 and 150. For smooth microtubes, no difference from macroscopic flow is observed for the tube sizes considered. However, flow resistance is found to be sensitive to the relative surface roughness of the tube walls.