Design and performance enhancement of thermal-fluid system based on topology optimization

The present work is based on the Finite Element Method as the discretization technique coupled to a density approach, an alternative interpolation function in this paper. A new dimensionless objective function combining minimum energy consumption and maximum thermal performance of topology optimization is proposed, and the performance of the approach and the optimized structure in this paper are verified. The result shows: that the alternative interpolation function can effectively solve the checkerboard and gray cell problems in topology optimization; the new objective function can reduce the vibration problem in the calculation process caused by nonlinearity; in the same conjugate heat transfer systems, the objective function value obtained by the Finite Element Method is 2.24% higher than that of Finite Volume Method and 4.26% higher than that of the Lattice Boltzmann Method; under high Reynolds number, topology structure shows superior com-prehensive performance, which is increased by 19.5% -65.2%, and energy consumption per heat transfer can be reduced by up to 38.85%. (c) 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The present work is based on the Finite Element Method and a new density approach. A new dimensionless objective function is proposed, combining minimum energy consumption and maximum thermal performance in topology optimization. The effectiveness of the approach and the optimized structure are verified. The results show that the alternative interpolation function solves the checkerboard and gray cell problems, the new objective function reduces vibration, and the Finite Element Method outperforms the Finite Volume Method and Lattice Boltzmann Method in objective function value. The topology structure exhibits superior comprehensive performance and reduces energy consumption in heat transfer.