Showing papers in "International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer in 2012"

Abstract: The past decade has seen the rapid development of nanofluids science in many aspects. Number of research is conducted that is mostly focused on the thermal conductivity of these fluids. However, nanofluid viscosity also deserves the same attention as thermal conductivity. In this paper, different characteristics of viscosity of nanofluids including nanofluid preparation methods, temperature, particle size and shape, and volume fraction effects are thoroughly compiled and reviewed. Furthermore, a precise review on theoretical models/correlations of conventional models related to nanofluid viscosity is presented. The existing experimental results about the nanofluids viscosity show clearly that viscosity augmented accordingly with an increase of volume concentration and decreased with the temperature rise. However, there are some contradictory results on the effects of temperature on viscosity. Moreover, it is shown that particle size has some noteworthy effects over viscosity of nanofluids.

Abstract: Thermal transport in metal foams has received growing attention in both academic research and industrial applications. In this paper the recent research progress of thermal transport in metal foams has been reviewed. This paper aims to provide the comprehensive state-of-the-art knowledge and research results of thermal transport in open celled cellular metal foams, which covers the effective thermal conductivity, forced convection, natural convection, thermal radiation, pool boiling and flow boiling heat transfer, solid/liquid phase change heat transfer and catalytic reactor. The forced convection and thermal conductivity have been extensively investigated, while less research were performed on two-phase (boiling and solid/liquid phase change heat transfer) and thermal radiation in metal foams. Also most research still treats the metal foam as one type of effective continuous porous media, very few researchers investigated the detailed thermal behaviours at the pore level either by numerical or experimental approaches.

Abstract: The Prandtl number, Reynolds number and Nusselt number are functions of thermophysical properties of nanofluids and these numbers strongly influence the convective heat transfer coefficient. The pressure loss and the required pumping power for a given amount of heat transfer depend on the Reynolds number of flow. The thermophysical properties vary with temperature and volumetric concentration of nanofluids. Therefore, a comprehensive analysis has been performed to evaluate the effects on the performance of nanofluids due to variations of density, specific heat, thermal conductivity and viscosity, which are functions of nanoparticle volume concentration and temperature. Two metallic oxides, aluminum oxide (Al2O3), copper oxide (CuO) and one nonmetallic oxide silicon dioxide (SiO2), dispersed in an ethylene glycol and water mixture (60:40 by weight) as the base fluid have been studied.

Abstract: As conventional energy sources like fossil fuels are getting rare, cost of energy production has become higher as well as the concern of environmental pollution by burning of fossil fuels among the developed and developing nations. Solar energy is the most vastly available energy and very effective in terms of energy conversion. The most common solar thermal collector used is the black surface as radiant absorber but the thermal energy efficiency is low. In this study, the effect of nanofluid has been analyzed by using as working fluid for direct solar collector. The extinction coefficient of water based aluminum nanofluid has been investigated and evaluated by varying nanoparticle size and volume fraction. The particle size has minimal influence on the optical properties of nanofluid. On the other hand, the extinction coefficient is linearly proportionate to volume fraction. The improvement is promising within 1.0% volume fraction and the nanofluid is almost opaque to light wave.

Abstract: Evaluating the heat transfer enhancement due to the use of nanofluids has recently become the center of interest for many researchers. This newly introduced category of cooling fluids containing ultrafine nanoparticles (1–100 nm) has displayed fascinating behavior during experiments including increased thermal conductivity and augmented heat transfer coefficient compared to a pure fluid. This article reviews and summarizes the numerical studies performed in this area including conventional numerical methods as well as the new Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM). Most of these computational simulations are in acceptable concordance with the results from experiments. However, there are some challenges to encounter when dealing with nanofluids. Changes might be necessary to mathematical models before simulation such as using two-phase models instead of single-phase models for nanofluids.

Abstract: Previous models and correlations for the prediction of pressure drop in adiabatic and condensing mini/micro-channel flows have been validated for only a few working fluids and relatively narrow ranges of relevant parameters. A universal predictive approach for these flows must be capable of tackling many fluids with drastically different thermophysical properties and very broad ranges of all geometrical and flow parameters of practical interest. To achieve this goal, a new consolidated database of 7115 frictional pressure gradient data points for both adiabatic and condensing mini/micro-channel flows is amassed from 36 sources. The database consists of 17 working fluids, hydraulic diameters from 0.0695 to 6.22 mm, mass velocities from 4.0 to 8528 kg/m 2 s, liquid-only Reynolds numbers from 3.9 to 89,798, flow qualities from 0 to 1, and reduced pressures from 0.0052 to 0.91. It is shown that, while a few prior models and correlations provide fair predictions of the consolidated database, their predictive accuracy is highly compromised for certain subsets of the database. A universal approach to predicting two-phase frictional pressure drop is proposed by incorporating appropriate dimensionless relations in a separated flow model to account for both small channel size and different combinations of liquid and vapor states. This approach is shown to provide excellent predictions of the entire consolidated database and fairly uniform accuracy against all parameters of the database. This approach is also capable of tackling single and multiple channels as well as situations involving significant flow deceleration due to condensation.

Abstract: In former studies, fires were always assumed to occur at the longitudinal centerline of tunnels. In fact, fires will occur at any locations in tunnels, with different distances to the sidewall. A set of model scale experiments were carried out, to investigate the influence of different transverse fire locations on maximum smoke temperature under the tunnel ceiling. Results show that the restriction effect of the sidewalls of tunnels cause the maximum smoke temperature rise under the ceiling to increase compared with the unconfined space, even fires occurs at the longitudinal centerline. The maximum smoke temperature rises above the fire keep almost unchanged with the fire moving closer to the sidewall at the beginning and then increase significantly after the distance between the fire and the sidewall decreases to a certain value. For small pools of wall fire, the “mirror” effect is reasonable, and for large pools, will bring a relatively large error without considering the influence of the equivalent diameter of a wall fire, resulting in underestimating the mass flow rate of fire plume and then overestimating the smoke temperature. Under all fires, the maximum smoke temperature rise under the ceiling decreases exponentially as the longitudinal distance from fire increases. Correlations for related parameters are proposed.

Abstract: A lattice Boltzmann model for the liquid–vapor phase change heat transfer is proposed in this paper. Two particle distribution functions, namely the density distribution function and the temperature distribution function, are used in this model. A new form of the source term in the energy equation is derived and the modified pseudo-potential model is used in the proposed model to improve its numerical stability. The commonly used Peng–Robinson equation of state is incorporated into the proposed model. The problem of bubble growth and departure from a horizontal surface is solved numerically based on the proposed model.

Abstract: This paper reports the results of an experimental investigation of the performance of finned heat sinks filled with phase change materials for thermal management of portable electronic devices. The phase change material (PCM) used in this study is n-eicosane and is placed inside a heat sink made of aluminium. Aluminium acts as thermal conductivity enhancer (TCE), as the thermal conductivity of the PCM is very low. The heat sink acts as an energy storage and a heat-spreading module. Studies are conducted for heat sinks on which a uniform heat load is applied for the unfinned and finned cases. The test section considered in all cases in the present work is a 80 × 62 mm 2 base with TCE height of 25 mm. A 60 × 42 mm 2 plate heater with 2 mm thickness is used to mimic the heat generation in electronic chips. Heat sinks with pin fin and plate fin geometries having the same volume fraction of the TCE are used. The effect of different types of fins for different power level (ranging from 2 to 7 W) in enhancing the operating time for different set point temperatures and on the duration of latent heating phase were explored in this study. The results indicate that the operational performance of portable electronic device can be significantly improved by the use of fins in heat sinks filled with PCM.

Abstract: Thermal conductivity and stability of carbon nanotube (CNT) structures in water-based nanofluid, as well as their dependence to temperature and time variation are of a great concern. In order to investigate such dependence, five different structures, namely SWNT (single wall CNT), DWNT (double wall CNT), FWNT (few wall CNT) and two different multiwalls were applied in this study. The experiments reveal that the maximum UV–VIS absorbance of the solution corresponds to the dispersion of SWNT in the base fluid. The results from zeta size distribution and thermal conductivity demonstrate that as the number of nanotube wall increase, both stability and thermal conductivity decrease.

Abstract: Pool boiling enhancement through surface modification has garnered the attention of many researchers for extending the limits of heat flux dissipation. Simulated copper chips were used in a pool boiling setup with water boiling at atmospheric pressure. Heat transfer performance of different microchanneled surfaces was compared to that of a plain surface. The results of the study showed that the mechanism at work for the bubble dynamics was the ability of the surface to pull liquid through the channels to induce heat transfer. Geometrical trends were observed from the study as well with the wider and deeper channels and thinner finned surfaces showing the best heat transfer results. Without reaching the critical heat flux condition, the best performing chip dissipated a heat flux of 244 W/cm 2 corresponding to a record heat transfer coefficient of 269 kW/m 2 K.

Abstract: In this study, the methanol-based nanofluids with Al 2 O 3 and SiO 2 nanoparticles are prepared by dispersing nanoparticles in pure methanol using an ultrasonic equipment. The main objective of this paper is to measure the thermal conductivity of the methanol-based nanofluids. We have also measured the zeta potential, particle size and Tyndall effect for the present nanofluids. The transient hot-wire method is applied for measuring the thermal conductivity of methanol-based nanofluids. The measurement uncertainty in repeatability is obtained as 1.95% for deionized (DI) water and 1.34% for pure methanol, respectively. The effective thermal conductivity of methanol-based nanofluids is measured at a temperature of 293.15 K. The results show that the thermal conductivity increases with an increase of the nanoparticle volume fraction, and the enhancement is observed to be 10.74% and 14.29% over the basefluid at the volume fraction of 0.5vol% for Al 2 O 3 and SiO 2 nanoparticles, respectively. Clustering of nanoparticles is considered to be the main reason for the thermal conductivity enhancement.

Abstract: We investigate the convective heat and mass transfer in nanofluid flow over a stretching sheet subject to hydromagnetic, viscous dissipation, chemical reaction and Soret effects. Two types of nanofluids, namely Cu–water and Ag–water were studied. A similarity transformation was used to obtain a system of non-linear ordinary differential equations, which was then solved numerically using the Matlab “ bvp4c ” function. Numerical results were obtained for the skin friction coefficient, Nusselt number, Sherwood number as well as for the velocity, temperature and concentration profiles for selected values of the governing parameters, such as the nanoparticle volume fraction ϕ , the magnetic parameter M. For a fixed Prandtl number Pr = 6.2 (corresponding to water) and different values of the magnetic field parameter and the nanoparticle volume fraction, we have shown that a good agreement exists between the present results and those in the literature. It was shown that the Cu–water nanofluid exhibits higher wall heat and mass transfer rates as compared to a Ag–water nanofluid. The influence of a magnetic field is to reduce both wall heat and mass transfer rates.

Abstract: Natural convection of nanofluids in presence of hot and cold side walls (case 1) or uniform or non-uniform heating of bottom wall with cold side walls (case 2) have been investigated based on visualization of heat flow via heatfunctions or heatlines. Galerkin finite element method has been employed to solve momentum and energy balance as well as post processing streamfunctions and heatfunctions. Various nanofluids are considered as Copper–Water, TiO2–Water and Alumina–Water. Enhancement of heat transfer with respect to base fluid (water) has been observed for all ranges of Rayleigh number (Ra). Dominance of viscous force or buoyancy force are found to play significant roles to characterize the heat transfer rates and temperature patterns which are also established based on heatlines. In general, convective closed loop heatlines are present even at low Rayleigh number (Ra=103) within base fluid, but all nanofluids exhibit dominant conductive heat transport as the flow is also found to be weak due to dominance of viscous force for case 1. On the other hand, convective heat transport at the core of a circulation cell, typically represented by closed loop heatlines, is more intense for nanofluids compared to base fluid (water) for case 2 at Ra = 105. It is also found that heatlines with larger heatfunctions values for nanofluids coincide with heatlines with smaller heatfunction values for water at walls. Consequently, Nusselt number which is also correlated with heatfunctions show larger values of nanofluids for all ranges of Ra. Average Nusselt numbers show that larger enhancement of heat transfer rates for all nanofluids at Ra=105 and Alumina–Water and Copper–Water exhibit larger enhancement of heat transfer rates.

Abstract: In this article, the flow and heat transfer of Eyring Powell fluid over a continuously moving surface in the presence of a free stream velocity are investigated. Convective boundary conditions have been used in the problem formulation. The solution for velocity and temperature are computed by applying the homotopy analysis method (HAM). The effects of emerging fluid parameters (ϵ), (δ) and Prandtl number (Pr) on the velocity and temperature are illustrated through graphs and tables for different values of λ. It is found that the boundary layer thickness is an increasing function of (ϵ) and decreasing function of (δ). However the temperature and thermal boundary layer thickness decrease when the values of (ϵ) and (δ) are increased.

Abstract: Finned minichannels are modeled in order to optimize microstructure geometry and maximize heat transfer dissipation through convection from a heated surface. Six pin fin shapes – circle, square, triangle, ellipse, diamond and hexagon – are used in a staggered array and attached to the bottom heated surface of a rectangular minichannel and analyzed. Also, using square pin fins, different channel clearance over fins are investigated to optimize the fin height of the fins with respect to that of the channel. Fin width and spacing are investigated using a ratio of fin width area to the channel width. Fin material is then varied to investigate the heat dissipation effects. Triangular fins with larger fin height, smaller fin width, and spacing double the fin width maximizes the number of fins in each row and yields better performance. Correlations describing the Nusselt number and the Darcy friction factor are obtained and compared to previous ones from recent studies. These correlations only apply to short fins in the laminar regime. Completely understanding the effects of micro pin fins in a minichannel is essential to maximizing the performance in small scale cooling apparatuses to keep up with future electronic advancements.

Abstract: Stable ZnO–water nanofluids with particle volume concentrations in the range of 0.25–2 vol% were prepared using probe ultrasonication and sodium hexametaphosphate for dispersion. The effect of temperature on hydrodynamic size distribution and zeta potential during heating and cooling cycle has been investigated to elucidate its role on dispersion characteristics. The study on influence of temperature on relative viscosity of ZnO–water nanofluids reveals temperature independency of relative viscosity upto a temperature of 35 °C and inverse temperature dependency in the temperature range of 35–55 °C. From the aspect of minimizing relative viscosity at a fixed nanoparticle concentration, excessive ultrasonication is unfavorable resulting in the formation of aggregates with lower fractal dimension.

Abstract: Statistical narrow-band (SNB) model parameters for H2O, CO2, CH4 and CO, and correlated-k (CK) parameters for H2O and CO2 are generated from line by line calculations and recently improved spectroscopic databases in wide temperature and spectral ranges. Results from the new parameters are compared to direct line by line calculations and to results from earlier model parameters [A. Soufiani, J. Taine, High temperature gas radiative property parameters of statistical narrow-band model for H2O, CO2 and CO and correlated-k (ck) model for H2O and CO2, Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer 40 (1997) 987–991] in terms of band averaged spectral transmissivities, Planck mean absorption coefficients, and total emissivities. The comparisons show first a good agreement between updated SNB, CK and LBL results. Significant improvements on earlier parameters are observed for H2O and CO2, especially at very high temperatures and path lengths. Model parameters and computer programs illustrating their implementation are provided as Supplementary data .

Abstract: Heat transfer enhancement in a 3-D microchannel heat sink (MCHS) using nanofluids is investigated by a numerical study. The addition of nanoparticles to the coolant fluid changes its thermophysical properties in ways that are closely related to the type of nanoparticle, base fluid, particle volume fraction, particle size, and pumping power. The calculations in this work suggest that the best heat transfer enhancement can be obtained by using a system with an Al 2 O 3 –water nanofluid-cooled MCHS. Moreover, using base fluids with lower dynamic viscosity (such as water) and substrate materials with high thermal conductivity enhance the thermal performance of the MCHS. The results also show that as the particle volume fraction of the nanofluid increases, the thermal resistance first decreases and then increases. The lowest thermal resistance can be obtained by properly adjusting the volume fraction and pumping power under given geometric conditions. For a moderate range of particle sizes, the MCHS yields better performance when nanofluids with smaller nanoparticles are used. Furthermore, the overall thermal resistance of the MCHS is reduced significantly by increasing the pumping power. The heat transfer performance of Al 2 O 3 –water and diamond–water nanofluids was 21.6% better than that of pure water. The results reported here may facilitate improvements in the thermal performance of MCHSs.

Abstract: This study presents numerical computation results on turbulent flow and coupled heat transfer enhancement in a novel parabolic trough solar absorber tube, the unilateral milt-longitudinal vortexes enhanced parabolic trough solar receiver (UMLVE-PTR), where longitudinal vortex generators (LVGs) are only located on the side of the absorber tube with concentrated solar radiation (CSR). The novel absorber tube and the corresponding parabolic trough receiver with smooth absorber tube (SAT-PTR) are numerical studied by combining the finite volume method (FVM) and the Monte Carlo ray-trace (MCRT) method for comparison and verification from the viewpoint of field synergy principle (FSP). Then the effects of Reynolds number, heat transfer fluid (HTF) inlet temperature, incident solar radiation and LVG geometric parameters were further examined. It was found that the mechanism of heat transfer enhancement of this novel absorber tube can be explained very well by the field synergy principle, and that the proposed novel UMLVE-PTR has good comprehensive heat transfer performance than that of the SAT-PTR within a wide range of major influence factors of diverse working conditions and geometric parameters.

Abstract: This work is devoted to the numerical calculation of heat and fluid flow past spherical particles and non-spherical particles of various shapes. Although numerous works have investigated drag forces ( c d ) for spherical and non-spherical particles, works about the Nusselt number ( Nu ) relations for non-spherical particles are rare. Motivated by this fact, as a first step we consider cuboid, spherical and ellipsoidal particles in steady-state regimes corresponding to Reynolds numbers ( Re ) from 10 up to 250. Due to the asymmetric flow existing when Re approaches the value of 250, all simulations are made using a three-dimensional domain. Good agreement was observed when our numerical results gained for the sphere were compared with published values for drag coefficients and Nusselt numbers. Based on the analysis of numerical results obtained for non-spherical particles we found out that in addition to the Reynolds number three geometry parameters influence particle-fluid interaction: the drag coefficient depends primarily on the normalized longitudinal length, while both the sphericity and the crosswise sphericity influence the Nusselt number. For that reason new correlations are developed for both the drag coefficient and the Nusselt number. The accuracy of the closures developed for c d and Nu is discussed in a comparison with published models.

Abstract: The unsteady boundary layer flow of a nanofluid over a permeable stretching/shrinking sheet is theoretically studied. The governing partial differential equations are transformed into ordinary ones using a similarity transformation, before being solved numerically. The results are obtained for the skin friction coefficient, the local Nusselt number and the local Sherwood number as well as the velocity, temperature and the nanoparticle fraction profiles for some values of the governing parameters, namely, the unsteadiness parameter, the mass suction parameter, the Brownian motion parameter, the thermophoresis parameter, Prandtl number, Lewis number and the stretching/shrinking parameter. It is found that dual solutions exist for both stretching and shrinking cases. The results also indicate that both unsteadiness and mass suction widen the range of the stretching/shrinking parameter for which the solution exists.

Abstract: The effects of thermal radiation on the flow of micropolar fluid and heat transfer past a porous shrinking sheet is investigated. The self-similar ODEs are obtained using similarity transformations from the governing PDEs and are then solved numerically by very efficient shooting method. The analysis reveals that for the steady flow of micropolar fluid, the wall mass suction needs to be increased. Dual solutions of velocity and temperature are obtained for several values of the each parameter involved. For increasing values of the material parameter K, the velocity decreases for first solution, whereas, for second solution it increases. Due to increase of thermal radiation, the temperature and thermal boundary layer thickness reduce in both solutions and also the heat transfer from the sheet enhances with thermal radiation.

Abstract: It is expected that fuel cells will play a significant role in a future sustainable energy system, due to their high energy efficiency and the possibility to use renewable fuels. A fully coupled CFD model (COMSOL Multiphysics) is developed to describe an intermediate temperature SOFC single cell, including governing equations for heat, mass, momentum and charge transport as well as kinetics considering the internal reforming and the electrochemical reactions. The influences of the ion and electron transport resistance within the electrodes, as well as the impact of the operating temperature and the cooling effect by the surplus of air flow, are investigated. As revealed for the standard case in this study, 90% of the electrochemical reactions occur within 2.4 μm in the cathode and 6.2 μm in the anode away from the electrode/electrolyte interface. In spite of the thin electrochemical active zone, the difference to earlier models with the reactions defined at the electrode–electrolyte interfaces is significant. It is also found that 60% of the polarizations occur in the anode, 10% in the electrolyte and 30% in the cathode. It is predicted that the cell current density increases if the ionic transfer tortuosity in the electrodes is decreased, the air flow rate is decreased or the cell operating temperature is increased.

Abstract: The potential of punched winglet type vortex generator (VG) arrays used to enhance air-side heat-transfer performance of finned tube heat exchanger is numerically investigated. The arrays are composed of two delta-winglet pairs with two layout modes of continuous and discontinuous winglets. The heat transfer performance of two array arrangements are compared to a conventional large winglet configuration for the Reynolds number ranging from 600 to 2600 based on the tube collar diameter, with the corresponding frontal air velocity ranging from 0.54 to 2.3 m/s. The effects of different geometry parameters that include attack angle of delta winglets ( β = 10 deg, β = 20 deg, β = 30 deg) and the layout locations are examined. The numerical results show that for the punched VG cases, the effectiveness of the main vortex to the heat transfer enhancement is not fully dominant while the “corner vortex” also shows significant effect on the heat transfer performance. Both heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop increase with the increase of attack angle β for the side arrangements; the arrays with discontinuous winglets show the best heat transfer enhancement, and a significant augmentation of up to 33.8–70.6% in heat transfer coefficient is achieved accompanied by a pressure drop penalty of 43.4–97.2% for the 30 deg case compared to the plain fin. For the front arrangements of VGs higher heat transfer enhancement and pressure drop penalty can be obtained compared to that of the side arrangement cases; the case with front continuous winglet arrays has the maximum value of j / f , a corresponding heat transfer improvement of 36.7–81.2% and a pressure drop penalty of 60.7–135.6%.

Abstract: This study investigates the effects of surface wettability on pool boiling heat transfer. Nano-silica particle coatings were used to vary the wettability of the copper surface from superhydrophilic to superhydrophobic by modifying surface topography and chemistry. Experimental results show that critical heat flux (CHF) values are higher in the hydrophilic region. Conversely, CHF values are lower in the hydrophobic region. The experimental CHF data of the modified surface do not fit the classical models. Therefore, this study proposes a simple model to build the nexus between the surface wettability and the growth of bubbles on the heating surface.

Abstract: Nanofluid is a new kind of working fluid with special properties to enhance the heat transfer of heat pipes. This paper reviews and summarizes the research done on heat pipes using nanofluids as working fluids in recent years. The effect of characteristics and mass concentrations of nanoparticles on the thermal performance in various kinds of heat pipes with different base fluids under various operating conditions have been discussed. The mechanism of enhancement or degradation of heat transfer utilizing nanofluids in the investigated heat pipes has been explained. The paper discusses the relative reduction of the total heat resistance for various heat pipes with nanofluids in comparison with the existing ones and also presents a perspective on possible future research applications.

Abstract: A set of burning experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of vertical shaft height on natural ventilation in urban road tunnel fires. Two special phenomena, plug-holing and turbulent boundary-layer separation were observed, both of which will influence the effect of smoke exhaust. When shaft height is relatively small, the boundary layer separation is significant and vortexes form in the upstream region inside the shaft, causing the backflow of gas mixture and preventing the throughflow of smoke. With the increasing of shaft height, the boundary layer separation becomes inconspicuous and the plug-holing occurs, leading to the ambient fresh air beneath smoke layer being exhausted directly, which will strongly decrease the smoke exhaust efficiency. Therefore, it is not the case that the higher the vertical shaft, the better the smoke exhaust effect, there exist a critical shaft height in which the boundary layer separation can be diminished to a large extent and overmuch entrainment of fresh air such as plug-holing can be avoided. In addition, the critical shaft height related to better effect can be determined by the new criterion of Ri ′ ( Ri critical ′ = 1.4 ) proposed in this paper.

Abstract: This study is concerned with the peristaltic transport of nanofluid in a channel with complaint walls. Transport equations involve the combined effects of Brownian motion and thermophoretic diffusion of nanoparticles. Mathematical modeling is carried out by utilizing long wavelength and low Reynolds number assumptions. The coupled nonlinear boundary value problem (BVP) has been solved numerically by using shooting technique through software Mathematica. The analytic solutions are computed by a robust analytical tool namely the homotopy analysis method (HAM). Attention has been focused on the behaviors of Brownian motion parameter (Nb), thermophoresis parameter (Nt), Prandtl number (Pr) and Eckert number (Ec). The results indicate an appreciable increase in the temperature and nanoparticles concentration with the increase in the strength of Brownian motion effects. Further heat transfer coefficient is a decreasing function of Nb and Nt.

Abstract: Numerical analysis is performed to examine the heat transfer characteristics of a double-layered microchannel heat sink. The three-dimensional governing equations are solved by the finite volume method. The effects of substrate materials, coolants, and geometric parameters such as channel number, channel width ratio, channel aspect ratio, substrate thickness, and pumping power on the temperature distribution, pressure drop, and thermal resistance are discussed. Predictions show that the heat transfer performance of the heat sink is improved for a system with substrate materials having a higher thermal conductivity ratio. A coolant with high thermal conductivity and low dynamic viscosity also enhances the heat transfer performance. The pressure drop decreases with the channel aspect ratio and channel width ratio. Further, the thermal resistance of the microchannel heat sink can be minimized by optimizing the geometric parameters. Finally, the results show that for the same geometric dimensions, the thermal performance of the double-layered microchannel heat sink is better than that of the single-layered one, by an average of 6.3%.