A study on thermohydraulic characteristics of fluid flow through microchannels

Abstract

At present, miniaturization of the devices in order to make them for effective performance, reliability and ease at cost is the primary need of any nation. In this direction, the role of microchannels can play an important role in the further development of industrial growth. The increased demand of the microchips in the industrial areas has increased the number of transistors for the improved functionality which leads to the emission of the higher heat flux, which is already a big challenge in the electronic sector. In the present paper, a comprehensive review on microchannels has been done regarding single-phase and multi-phase studies. In the present paper, an intensive review of the thermal and hydraulic characteristics of fluid flow in microchannels at different hydraulic diameters and their effects on performance has been done. The effects of the various parameters such as the Reynolds number (Re), Nusselt number (Nu), friction factor (f), pressure drop (P), working fluid and cross-sectional geometry of duct, as well as the hydrodynamic and thermal aspects, has been also studied. It was concluded through the literature study that transition from laminar to turbulent is very much affected by channel cross-sectional geometry, aspect ratio, channel wall roughness and compressibility effects. Also, researchers only explored the laminar region for its pressure drop and heat transfer characteristics, while the turbulent flow regime is yet to be explored. It was observed that most of the correlation over-estimated the value of pressure drop in multi-phase flow.