Investigation of Conjugate Heat Transfer in Microchannels Using Variable Thermophysical Property Nanofluids

Abstract

We report the results of a study on heat transfer in microchannels. The fluid used is a nanofluid whose properties are temperature dependent. The energy dissipation is evaluated for various solid fraction contents along with the cooling effectiveness of this modern type of heat exchangers. The shape of the channels is also investigated. The evaluation parameter used for thermal energy dissipation is the Nusselt number while that used for cooling effectiveness is the static pressure drop between the inlet and the outlet of the microchannel. Conjugate convection-conduction energy conservation equations have been solved along with mass and momentum conservation equations in order to determine these parameters. The results obtained showed important heat transfer augmentation with solid fraction at the expense of an increased pressure drop, i.e high pumping cost (therefore low cooling effectiveness). The microchannel inlet section geometry was also found to contribute to the values of the Nusselt number and pressure drop. Among the tested geometries (elliptical, rectangular, trapezoidal) the rectangular section provided the best compromise between heat transfer augmentation and pumping cost. At the end of the study, a comparison was made between the results obtained by assuming Newtonian rheology and those obtained with non-Newtonian rheological behavior of the same nanofluid sample. It was found that the assumption of non-Newtonian rheological behavior of nanofluids gives higher Nusselt number values and much lower pressure drops.