Computational Studies of Heat Transfer Enhancement in a Circular Wavy Micro Channel

Abstract

Using computational analysis, convective heat transfer augmentation of laminar flow through wavy micro channel was studied. A 3-D geometry was used for simulation. The simulation was performed using non dimensional governing equations of a laminar flow at steady state. The flow is developing by both thermally and hydrodynamically while the walls of the channel are set aside at a steady temperature. The computations were prepared with Reynolds number within the range from 100 to 800 using air (Pr=0.7) as the working fluid. The simulation was carried out by using five different wave ratio (Y= P/D) to reach the optimal geometry with the maximum performance evaluation criterion. The results portrayed that the efficiency of heat transfer in wavy shaped micro channel was improved than a typical circular micro channel. The penalty due to the drop of pressure also increased in case of wavy micro channel whereas the channel having smaller wave ratio has more friction penalty. Commonly, the heat transfer act of wavy micro channel has an augmented heat transfer efficiency because of the thermal boundary layer disorder and block of longitudinal heat transfer.