Numerical approach for fluids flow and thermal convection in microchannels

Abstract

The heat transfer performance of conventional thermal fluids in microchannels is an attractive method for cooling devices such as microelectronic applications. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a very significant research technique in heat transfer studies and validated numerical models of microscale thermal management systems are of utmost importance. In this paper, some literature studies on available numerical and experimental models for single-phase and Newtonian fluids are reviewed and methods to tackle laminar fluid flow through a microchannel are sought. A few case studies are selected, and a numerical simulation is performed to obtain fluid flow behaviour within a microchannel, to test the level of accuracy and understanding of the problem. The numerical results are compared with relevant experimental results from the literature and a proper methodology for numerical investigation of single-phase and Newtonian fluid in laminar flow convection heat transfer in microscale heat exchangers is defined.