Roughness Effect on Thermal-Hydraulic Performances of Additively Manufactured Meandering Mini-Channels

Abstract

Additive manufacturing has made possible new geometry’s design. The promise of these technologies is of prime importance in the heat exchanger’s performance. Nevertheless, this fabrication process creates new more or less rough topologies, thus, different thermal-hydraulic behaviors, which are not fully known, controlled and predictable in the case of mini-channels (2 mm diameter in this study). The aim of this work is to test and compare the experimental thermal-hydraulic performances of different meandering mini–channels. They are obtained by a Laser-Powder Bed Fusion process with a circular or square cross-section. The geometry and the roughness of the channels are also characterized. Tests were conducted over a Reynolds number range of 200–6000. These experimental data are then used to build and validate a numerical model of the mockup. The experimental and numerical results are consistent without requiring the use of tuning parameters.