Effects of structural parameters on fluid flow and heat transfer in a microchannel with aligned fan-shaped reentrant cavities

We provide three-dimensional numerical simulations of conjugate heat transfer in the newly proposed microchannels with different structural parameters. The structural parameters include the lengths and widths of the constant cross-section region and the arcuate region. The effects of structural parameters on pressure drop and thermal resistance are presented. For the first part of the effect analysis, we study the fluid flow and heat transfer mechanism of the microchannel with aligned fan-shaped reentrant cavities in detail, which can attribute to the interaction of the increased heat transfer surface area, the redeveloping boundary layers, the jet and throttling effect and the slipping over the reentrant cavities. As to the second part of the present analysis, the effects of two design structural parameters on fluid flow and heat transfer of the new microchannel are individually prescribed and the two suitable ranges of structural parameter are found for the optimum geometric configuration. (C) 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.