On the thermal characteristics of a manifold microchannel heat sink subjected to nanofluid using two-phase flow simulation

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The main objective of the present study is to numerically simulate the heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of water/CuO nanofluid under laminar flow regime in a manifold microchannel. Ensuring the accuracy of the numerical procedure, the obtained results have been compared with the experimental data available in the literature. The Euler multi-phase method considering temperature-dependent thermophysical properties have been employed to simulate the fluid flow and heat transfer. The effects of in/out ratio, Reynolds number, and solid concentration of nanoparticles as independent parameters on the heat transfer and flow field characteristics have been investigated. The obtained results revealed that the heat transfer and friction coefficient had been enhanced by increasing the in/out ratio at a constant Reynolds number. Furthermore, it is observed that by increasing the Reynolds number, the effects of in/out ratio becomes more considerable. According to obtained results, by increasing the solid concentration of the nanoparticles, the friction coefficient increases due to the enhancement of the effective viscosity. Based on the present investigation, in/out ratio equal to 0.25 provides the maximum amount of performance evaluation criterion at the Reynolds number of 100 and solid concentration 2 vol%. Thus, under the studied conditions, the heat transfer enhancement, due to adding the nanoparticles, is higher than that of the pressure drop.