CFD simulation of the impact of tip clearance on the hydrothermal performance and entropy generation of a water-cooled pin-fin heat sink

Abstract

In this paper, the 3D numerical calculations of the water flow inside a pin-fin heat sink (PFHS) to determine the influence of tip clearance on the hydrothermal behavior and frictional & thermal irreversibilities of the fluid flow. The numerical simulations were conducted for five different fin heights (ξ = 1.5 mm to 2.5 mm) considering four different Reynolds numbers (Re=500, 1000, 1500, and 2000). The results demonstrated that the highest heat transfer coefficient is associated with ξ = 2.25 mm due to more uniform vorticity distributions, while the minimum central processing unit (CPU) average temperature is obtained for ξ = 2.5 mm due to the higher heat transfer surface area. The minimum thermal and frictional entropy generation rates are associated with PFHS with ξ = 1.5 mm. However, the PFHS with ξ = 2.25 mm has the highest Performance Evaluation Criterion (PEC) of nearly equal to 1.28 as compared to the other ξs. Besides, the fluid flow from the pin-fin base to the top and vice versa leads to create the vortices especially at the entrance of the PFHSs with tip clearance.