Wu P.-YPironneau OShih P.-SC. ROBERT KAO2022-03-222022-03-22202123115521https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85118121420&doi=10.3390%2ffluids6110371&partnerID=40&md5=86e4d78acbacfb78e7fe04f553563dd1https://scholars.lib.ntu.edu.tw/handle/123456789/598333Electroless plating in micro-channels is a rising technology in industry. In many electroless plating systems, hydrogen gas is generated during the process. A numerical simulation method is proposed and analyzed. At a micrometer scale, the motion of the gaseous phase must be addressed so that the plating works smoothly. Since the bubbles are generated randomly and everywhere, a volume-averaged, two-phase, two-velocity, one pressure-flow model is applied. This fluid system is coupled with a set of convection–diffusion equations for the chemicals subject to flux boundary conditions for electron balance. The moving boundary due to plating is considered. The Galerkin-characteristic finite element method is used for temporal and spatial discretizations; the well-posedness of the numerical scheme is proved. Numerical studies in two dimensions are performed to validate the model against earlier one-dimensional models and a dedicated experiment that has been set up to visualize the distribution of bubbles. ? 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Electroless plating processFinite element methodTwo-phase flowTwo-velocities averaged model[SDGs]SDG6[SDGs]SDG9journal article10.3390/fluids61103712-s2.0-85118121420