Numerical Investigation of Heat Transfer in Rectangular Microchannels Under H2 Boundary Condition During Developing and Fully Developed Laminar Flow

2011 ◽  
Vol 134 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
V. V. Dharaiya ◽  
S. G. Kandlikar

Study of fluid flow characteristics at microscale is gaining importance with shrinking device sizes. Better understanding of fluid flow and heat transfer in microchannels will have important implications in electronic chip cooling, heat exchangers, MEMS, and microfluidic devices. Due to short lengths employed in microchannels, entrance header effects can be significant and need to be investigated. In this work, three dimensional model of microchannels, with aspect ratios (α = a/b) ranging from 0.1 to 10, are numerically simulated using CFD software tool fluent. Heat transfer effects in the entrance region of microchannel are presented by plotting average Nusselt number as a function of nondimensional axial length x*. The numerical simulations with both circumferential and axial uniform heat flux (H2) boundary conditions are validated for existing data set for four wall heat flux case. Large numerical data sets are generated in this work for rectangular cross-sectional microchannels with heating on three walls, two opposing walls, one wall, and two adjacent walls under H2 boundary condition. This information can provide better understanding and insight into the transport processes in the microchannels. Although the results are seen as relevant in microscale applications, they are applicable to any sized channels. Based on the numerical results obtained for the whole range, generalized correlations for Nusselt numbers as a function of channel aspect ratio are presented for all the cases. The predicted correlations for Nusselt numbers can be very useful resource for the design and optimization of microchannel heat sinks and other microfluidic devices.

Author(s):  
V. V. Dharaiya ◽  
R. R. Srivastava ◽  
S. G. Kandlikar

Study of fluid flow characteristics at microscale level is gaining importance with shrinking device sizes. Better understanding of fluid flow and heat transfer in microchannels will have important implications in biomedical industry, MEMS, electronic chip cooling, heat exchangers, and microfluidic devices. Also, due to short lengths employed in microchannels, entrance header effects can be significant and needs to be investigated. In this work, three dimensional model of microchannels, with aspect ratios (α = a/b) ranging from 0.1 to 10, are numerically simulated using CFD software, FLUENT. Heat transfer effects in the entrance region of microchannel are presented by plotting average Nusselt number as a function of non-dimensional thermal entrance length x*. The numerical simulations with both circumferential and axial uniform heat flux (H2) boundary conditions were performed for four wall, three wall and two wall cases. Large numerical data sets, generated in this work for rectangular cross sectional microchannels for three walls and two walls H2 boundary condition, can provide better understanding and insight into the transport processes in the microchannel.


Author(s):  
Bernardo Buonomo ◽  
Oronzio Manca ◽  
Sergio Nardini ◽  
Guy Lauriat

A numerical investigation on a single slot jet impinging in a porous parallel-plate channel containing an air-saturated high permeability porous medium is accomplished. The wall opposite the slot jet is partially heated at uniform heat flux and the buoyancy effects are taken into account. The fluid flow is assumed two dimensional, laminar and steady. The porous medium is modeled using the Brinkman–Forchheimer-extended Darcy model and the Boussinesq approximation. The local thermal non-equilibrium (LTNE) hypothesis is invoked. The results are discussed in terms of streamlines, fluid and solid phase temperature fields, wall temperature profiles and local and average Nusselt numbers. The porous medium allows a more significant heat transfer close to the end of the heated part of the plate. For low Peclet numbers, forced flow and natural convection are opposite and the mean Nusselt number shows a decrease in heat transfer, whereas they are aiding for high Peclet numbers. Porosity effects on the mean Nusselt numbers were found weak.


2013 ◽  
Vol 442 ◽  
pp. 169-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fu Qiang Wang

For the sake of reflecting the concentrated heat flux distribution boundary condition as genuine as possible during simulation, the sequential coupled optical-thermal heat transfer analysis is introduced for porous media receiver. During the sequential coupled numerical analysis, the non-uniform heat flux distribution on the fluid entrance surface of porous media receiver is obtained by Monte-Carlo ray tracing method. Finite element method (FEM) is adopted to solve energy equation using the calculated heat flux distribution as the third boundary condition. The dimensionless temperature distribution comparisons between uniform and non-uniform heat flux distribution boundary conditions, various porosities, and different solar dish concentrator tracking errors are investigated in this research.


1999 ◽  
Vol 121 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Dahl ◽  
J. Davidson

Nusselt numbers are measured in three counterflow tube-in-shell heat exchangers with flow rates and temperatures representative of thermosyphon operation in solar water heating systems. Mixed convection heat transfer correlations for these tube-in-shell heat exchangers were previously developed in Dahl and Davidson (1998) from data obtained in carefully controlled experiments with uniform heat flux at the tube walls. The data presented in this paper confirm that the uniform heat flux correlations apply under morerealistic conditions. Water flows in the shell and 50 percent ethylene glycol circulates in the tubes. Actual Nusselt numbers are within 15 percent of the values predicted for a constant heat flux boundary condition. The data reconfirm the importance of mixed convection in determining heat transfer rates. Under most operating conditions, natural convection heat transfer accounts for more than half of the total heat transfer rate.


Author(s):  
Xiaohong Yan ◽  
Qiuwang Wang

Rectangular microchannel is the typical component of the micro heat exchangers and micro heat sinks. Three-dimensional compressible Navier-Stokes equations are solved for gas flow and heat transfer in microchannels under uniform heat flux boundary condition. The numerical methodology is based on the control volume SIMPLE scheme. It is found that the heat removal characteristic for compressible flow is better than the incompressible flow and it is not suitable to use conventionally defined Nu to measure the heat transfer characteristic for compressible heat transfer. The effect of the aspect ratio (width to height) on the cross-sectional averaged wall temperature and the Nu is negligible under the uniform heat flux boundary condition. However, the local uniformity of the wall temperature is significantly influenced by the aspect ratio. The square cross-section exhibits the best local uniformity of the wall temperature.


1993 ◽  
Vol 115 (1) ◽  
pp. 201-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. DasGupta ◽  
J. A. Schonberg ◽  
P. C. Wayner

The microscopic details of fluid flow and heat transfer near the contact line of an evaporating extended meniscus of heptane formed between a horizontal substrate and a “washer” were studied at low heat fluxes. The film profile in the contact line region was measured using ellipsometry and microcomputer-enhanced video microscopy, which demonstrated the details of the transition between a nonevaporating superheated flat thin film and an evaporating curved film. Using the augmented Young-Laplace equation, the interfacial properties of the system were initially evaluated in situ and then used to describe the transport processes. New analytical procedures demonstrated the importance of two dimensionless parameters. Both fluid flow and evaporation depend on the intermolecular force field, which is a function of the film profile. The thickness and curvature profiles agreed with the predictions based on interfacial transport phenomena models. The heat flux distribution and the pressure field were obtained. Since there are significant resistances to heat transfer in this small system due to interfacial forces, viscous stresses, and thermal conduction, the “ideal constant heat flux” cannot be attained. The description of the pressure field gives the details of the coupling between the disjoining and capillary pressures.


2003 ◽  
Vol 126 (4) ◽  
pp. 554-557 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dae Hee Lee ◽  
Jeonghoon Song ◽  
Myeong Chan Jo

The effects of nozzle diameter on heat transfer and fluid flow are investigated for a round turbulent jet impinging on a flat plate surface. The flow at the nozzle exit has a fully developed velocity profile. A uniform heat flux boundary is created at the plate surface by using gold film Intrex, and liquid crystals are used to measure the plate surface temperature. The experiments are performed for the jet Reynolds number (Re) of 23,000, with a dimensionless distance between the nozzle and plate surface L/d ranging from 2 to 14 and a nozzle diameter (d) ranging from 1.36 to 3.40 cm. The results show that the local Nusselt numbers increase with the increasing nozzle diameter in the stagnation point region corresponding to 0⩽r/d⩽0.5. This may be attributed to an increase in the jet momentum and turbulence intensity level with the larger nozzle diameter, which results in the heat transfer augmentation. In the mean time, the effect of the nozzle diameter on the local Nusselt numbers is negligibly small at the wall jet region corresponding to r/d>0.5.


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