A Numerical Study on Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Flow Interrupting Ribbed Microchannel under Inlet Flow Pulsation

Abstract

Abstract: The present work investigates the effect of pulsation on the transport process in a 2D microchannel. The inlet velocity varies sinusoidally in time at a constant dimension less frequency (St=10) and amplitude of 0.8. The working fluid is considered as water which is made to flow in the flow disturbing microchannel whiles the microchannel walls were kept at a uniform temperature. The solution of two-dimensional Navier-Stokes equation was performed using the SIMPLE algorithm with the momentum interpolation technique. The simulations were performed in the laminar regime within the Reynolds number range between 100- 500 for the microchannel. The results of pulsating flow simulations had been analysed and compared with nonpulsating flow simulations. It is observed that the effect of pulsation in flow interrupting ribbed microchannel is significant and more enhancement of heat transfer is observed at higher Reynolds number while keeping the friction factor within tolerable limits