EFFECTS OF THERMAL CREEP ON COOLING OF MICROFLOWS IN SHORT MICROCHANNELS WITH CONSTANT WALL TEMPERATURE

Abstract

Fluid flow and heat transfer in the entrance region of rectangular microchannels of various aspect ratios are numerically investigated in the slip-flow regime with particular attention to thermal creep effects. Uniform inlet velocity and temperature profiles are prescribed in microchannels with constant wall temperature. An adiabatic section is also employed at the inlet of the channel in order to prevent unrealistically large axial temperature gradients due to the prescribed uniform inlet temperature as well as upstream diffusion associated with low Reynolds number flows. A control-volume technique is used to solve the Navier–Stokes and energy equations which are accompanied with appropriate velocity slip and temperature jump boundary conditions at the walls. Despite the constant wall temperature, axial and peripheral temperature gradients form in the gas layer adjacent to the wall due to temperature jump. The simultaneous effects of velocity slip, temperature jump and thermal creep on the flow and thermal patterns along with the key flow parameters are examined in detail for a wide range of cross-sectional aspect ratios, and Knudsen and Reynolds numbers. Present results indicate that thermal creep effects influence the flow field and the temperature distribution significantly in the early section of the channel.