The Effect of Viscous Dissipation on Two-Dimensional Microchannel Heat Transfer

Abstract

Microchannel convective heat transfer characteristics in the slip flow regime are numerically evaluated for two-dimensional, steady state, laminar, constant wall heat flux and constant wall temperature flows. The effects of Knudsen number, accommodation coefficients, viscous dissipation, pressure work, second-order slip boundary conditions, axial conduction, and thermally/hydrodynamically developing flow are considered. The effects of these parameters on microchannel convective heat transfer are compared through the Nusselt number. Numerical values for the Nusselt number are obtained using a continuum based three-dimensional, unsteady, compressible computational fluid dynamics algorithm that has been modified with slip boundary conditions. Numerical results are verified using analytic solutions for thermally and hydrodynamically fully developed flows. The resulting analytical and numerical Nusselt numbers are given as a function of Knudsen number, the first- and second-order velocity slip and temperature jump coefficients, the Peclet number, and the Brinkman number. Excellent agreement between numerical and analytical data is demonstrated. Viscous dissipation, pressure work, second-order slip terms, and axial conduction are all shown to have significant effects on Nusselt numbers in the slip flow regime.