Abstract:
Fluidic m
aldistribution in microscale multichannel devices
requires
deep
understanding to
achiev
e optimized flow and
heat transfer
characteristics
.
A
thorough
computational
study has
been
performed
to understand the concentration
and
thermo
–
hydraulic
maldistribution
of
nanofluid
s
in parallel microchannel system
s
using an Eulerian
–
Lagrangian twin phase model.
The
study
reveal
s
that nanofluids cannot be treated as homogeneous single phase fluids in such
complex flow
domains
and effective property models fail drastically to predict
the
performance
parameter
s
.
To
comprehend the distribution of
the particulate phase
, a nove
l
concentration
maldistribution factor has been proposed. It has
been observed
that distribution of particles need
not essentially follow the flow pattern, leading to
higher
thermal performance than expected
f
rom homogeneous models
.
Particle
maldistributio
n has been conclusively shown to be due to
various migration and diffusive phenomena like Stokesian drag, Brownian motion,
thermophoretic drift
, etc
. The
implications of particle
distribution on the cooling performance
have been illustrated and
smart fluid
effects (reduced magnitude of maximum temperature) have
been observed and a mathematical model to predict the enhanced cooling performance in such
flow geometries has been proposed. The article presents lucidly the effectiveness of discrete
pha
se approach in modelling nanofluid thermo
–
hydraulics and sheds insight on behavior of
nanofluids in complex flow domains.
