Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 121828 |
| Journal | International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer |
| Volume | 181 |
| Early online date | 23 Aug 2021 |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 2021 |
Abstract
The conjugate heat transfer of bubble growth during flow boiling in microchannel has a significant effect on the flow field and heat transfer performance but few studies analyzed it before. In this study, the volume of fluid (VOF) method, Hardt's phase-change model, conjugate heat transfer between solid and fluid domains are adopted within an OpenFOAM solver to investigate the bubble growth and heat transfer performance in a microchannel with changed wall thickness from 5 μm to 160 μm and materials including silicon, aluminum, and copper. The results reveal that even if uniform heat flux is applied to the bottom wall, heat flux is not uniform at the solid-fluid interface due to the phase-change process in the channel. Conjugate heat transfer between the fluid and solid domain plays an important role in transferring the uniform heat flux from the bottom wall to the solid-fluid interface and homogenizing the solid-region temperature distribution, which cannot be ignored in the simulation of the phase-change phenomenon. When using different wall thicknesses, the bubble growth period differs by over two times. An optimum thickness exists for each material because the increasing wall thickness leads to a faster bubble growth rate but higher thermal resistance. With the same bottom wall thickness, the solid material with higher thermal diffusivity owns a faster bubble growth rate, thus a higher heat transfer coefficient. The optimum thickness decreases with increasing thermal diffusivity of the solid-domain material.
Keywords
- Bubble growth, Conjugate heat transfer, Microchannel flow boiling, OpenFOAM, Three-dimensional numerical simulation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Physics and Astronomy(all)
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Engineering(all)
- Mechanical Engineering
- Chemical Engineering(all)
- Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes
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In: International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol. 181, 121828, 12.2021.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Conjugate heat transfer analysis of bubble growth during flow boiling in a rectangular microchannel
AU - Lin, Yuhao
AU - Li, Junye
AU - Luo, Yang
AU - Li, Wei
AU - Luo, Xing
AU - Kabelac, Stephan
AU - Cao, Yanlong
AU - Minkowycz, W. J.
N1 - Funding Information: This work is supported by the National Science Foundation of China ( 52076187 ) and the Science and Technology on Thermal Energy and Power Laboratory Open Foundation of China ( TPL2020B01 ).
PY - 2021/12
Y1 - 2021/12
N2 - The conjugate heat transfer of bubble growth during flow boiling in microchannel has a significant effect on the flow field and heat transfer performance but few studies analyzed it before. In this study, the volume of fluid (VOF) method, Hardt's phase-change model, conjugate heat transfer between solid and fluid domains are adopted within an OpenFOAM solver to investigate the bubble growth and heat transfer performance in a microchannel with changed wall thickness from 5 μm to 160 μm and materials including silicon, aluminum, and copper. The results reveal that even if uniform heat flux is applied to the bottom wall, heat flux is not uniform at the solid-fluid interface due to the phase-change process in the channel. Conjugate heat transfer between the fluid and solid domain plays an important role in transferring the uniform heat flux from the bottom wall to the solid-fluid interface and homogenizing the solid-region temperature distribution, which cannot be ignored in the simulation of the phase-change phenomenon. When using different wall thicknesses, the bubble growth period differs by over two times. An optimum thickness exists for each material because the increasing wall thickness leads to a faster bubble growth rate but higher thermal resistance. With the same bottom wall thickness, the solid material with higher thermal diffusivity owns a faster bubble growth rate, thus a higher heat transfer coefficient. The optimum thickness decreases with increasing thermal diffusivity of the solid-domain material.
AB - The conjugate heat transfer of bubble growth during flow boiling in microchannel has a significant effect on the flow field and heat transfer performance but few studies analyzed it before. In this study, the volume of fluid (VOF) method, Hardt's phase-change model, conjugate heat transfer between solid and fluid domains are adopted within an OpenFOAM solver to investigate the bubble growth and heat transfer performance in a microchannel with changed wall thickness from 5 μm to 160 μm and materials including silicon, aluminum, and copper. The results reveal that even if uniform heat flux is applied to the bottom wall, heat flux is not uniform at the solid-fluid interface due to the phase-change process in the channel. Conjugate heat transfer between the fluid and solid domain plays an important role in transferring the uniform heat flux from the bottom wall to the solid-fluid interface and homogenizing the solid-region temperature distribution, which cannot be ignored in the simulation of the phase-change phenomenon. When using different wall thicknesses, the bubble growth period differs by over two times. An optimum thickness exists for each material because the increasing wall thickness leads to a faster bubble growth rate but higher thermal resistance. With the same bottom wall thickness, the solid material with higher thermal diffusivity owns a faster bubble growth rate, thus a higher heat transfer coefficient. The optimum thickness decreases with increasing thermal diffusivity of the solid-domain material.
KW - Bubble growth
KW - Conjugate heat transfer
KW - Microchannel flow boiling
KW - OpenFOAM
KW - Three-dimensional numerical simulation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85113321722&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2021.121828
DO - 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2021.121828
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85113321722
VL - 181
JO - International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer
JF - International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer
SN - 0017-9310
M1 - 121828
ER -