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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the thermal performance of the cooling plates with conventional straight channel and wavy channel designs.

A three-dimensional model involving coupled fluid flow and heat transfer processes is developed to study the thermal performance of the cooling plates. The effects of wavelength and amplitude on the cooling performance are also studied. In addition, two novel wavy channels with varying wavelength are proposed and investigated.

The simulated results are compared in terms of pressure drop, average temperature, maximum surface temperature, temperature difference between the maximum temperature and minimum temperature and surface temperature uniformity index. It is concluded that the cooling performance is significantly improved by the wavy channel.

The current study can improve the understanding of transport characterization of the cooling plates with wavy channel design and provide guidelines for the design of cooling plates.

The design of cooling plates with wavy channels can be used in proton exchange membrane fuel cells to improve the cooling performance.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate computationally the hydrothermal characteristics for forced convective laminar flow of water through a channel with a top wavy wall and a flat bottom wall having metallic porous blocks.

The governing equations are solved computationally using a finite element method–based numerical solver COMSOL Multiphysics® for the following range of parameters: 10 ≤ Reynolds number (Re) ≤ 500 and 10^–4 ≤ Darcy number (Da) ≤ 10^–1.

The presence of porous blocks significantly influences the heat transfer rate, and the value of local Nusselt number increases with the increase in Da. The value of the average Nusselt number decreases with Da for the top wall and the same is enhanced for the bottom wall of the wavy channel with porous blocks (WCPB). The value of the average Nusselt number for WCPB is significantly higher than that of the wavy channel without porous block (WCWPB), plane channel without porous block (PCWPB) and plane channel with the porous block (PCPB) at higher Re. For PCPB, the performance factor (PF) is always higher than that of WCWPB and WCPB for Da = 10^–4 and Da = 10^–3. Also, PF for WCPB is higher than that of WCWPB for higher Re except for Da = 10^–4. Further, the value of for WCPB is higher than that of PCPB at Da = 10^–2 and 10^–1 at Re = 500.

The current study is useful in designing efficient heat exchangers for process plants, solar collectors and aerospace applications.

The analysis of thermo-hydraulic characteristics for laminar flow through a channel with a top wavy wall and a flat bottom wall having metallic porous blocks have been analyzed for the first time. Further, a comparative assessment of the performance has been performed with a wavy channel without a porous block, a plane channel without a porous block and a plane channel with porous blocks.

This paper presents the heat transfer enhancement from discrete heat sources using a wavy channel.

The finite element method is utilized to solve the hydrodynamic/thermal problem. The considered geometry consists of a channel formed by two wavy plates with six discrete heat sources placed on upper and lower walls. The global objective is to maximize the heat transfer from the heat sources. The wavy channel enhances heat transfer from the heat sources through the modification of the flow pattern in the channel. The effects of the Reynolds number, Prandtl number, waviness of the wavy wall, and the location of the heat sources on the thermal characteristics of the flow are investigated.

Results indicate that the wavy channel significantly enhances the heat flow out of the heat sources, with heat sources located at the minimum channel cross sections having the best performance. The Nusselt number increases with an increase in Reynolds number and waviness of the wavy channel. The higher Prandtl number has a positive effect on the heat flow out of the heat sources. The heat transfer enhancement can reaches as high as 120 percent for high Reynolds numbers and waviness of the channel.

The combination of wavy plates and optimum placement of heat sources can lead to better, less expensive thermal management of heat sources in electronic devices.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the thermal, hydraulic and entropy generation characteristics for the magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) pressure-driven flow of Al₂O₃-water nanofluid through an asymmetric wavy channel.

Galerkin finite element method is used to solve the governing transport equations numerically within the computational domain using the appropriate boundary conditions. The temperature and flow fields are computed by varying Reynolds number (Re), Hartmann number (Ha) and nano-particle volume fraction (ϕ) in the following range: 10 ≤ Re ≤ 500, 0 ≤ Ha ≤ 75 and 0 ≤ ϕ ≤ 5%.

The formation of the recirculation zones in the wavy passages, the size of it and the strength of the vortices formed can be modulated by the application of the magnetic field. The overall heat transfer rate increases with Ha for all ϕ both for a lower and higher regime of Re although the enhancement is more for lower values of Re and nanofluids as compared to base fluid and for intermediate values of Re, the effect of a magnetic field is almost insignificant. The magnetic performance factor (PF_magnetic) decreases with Ha although the rate of decrement varies with Re. The increase ϕ also enhances PF_magnetic especially at lower and higher values of Re. The addition of nano-particle enhances the entropy generation at lower values of the Re, while the opposite effect is seen for higher values of Re.

The present study has enormous practical relevance for the design of heat exchanger applied for solar collectors, process plants, textile and aerospace applications.

The combined effects on the heat transfer rate and the associated pressure drop penalty due to the applied magnetic field for the flow of nanofluid through an asymmetric wavy channel have not been reported to date. The effect of the magnetic field on the formation of recirculation zones and hot spot intensity in the asymmetric wavy channel has been examined in detail. The PF_magnetic is investigated first time for the MHD nanofluid flow through a wavy channel.

The purpose of this paper is to present the investigation of the pressure-driven flow of aluminum oxide-water based nanofluid with the combined effect of entropy generation and radiative electro-magnetohydrodynamics filled with porous media inside a symmetric wavy channel.

The non-linear coupled differential equations are first converted into a number of ordinary differential equations with appropriate transformations and then analytical solutions are obtained by homotopic approach. Numerical simulation has been designed by the most efficient approach known homotopic-based Mathematica package BVPh 2.0 technique. The long wavelength approximation over the channel walls is taken into account. The obtained analytical results have been validated through graphs to infer the role of most involved pertinent parameters, whereas the characteristics of heat transfer and shear stress phenomena are presented and examined numerically.

It is found that the velocity profile decreases near to the channel. This is in accordance with the physical expectation because resistive force acts opposite the direction of fluid motion, which causes a decrease in velocity. It is seen that when the electromagnetic parameter increases then the velocity close to the central walls decreases whereas quite an opposite behavior is noted near to the walls. This happens because of the combined influence of electro-magnetohydrodynamics. It is perceived that by increasing the magnetic field parameter, Darcy number, radiation parameter, electromagnetic parameter and the temperature profile increases, and this is because of thermal buoyancy effect. For radiation and electromagnetic parameters, energy loss at the lower wall has substantial impact compared to the upper wall. Residual error minimizes at 20th order iterations.

The proposed prospective model is designed to explore the simultaneous effects of aluminum oxide-water base nanofluid, electro-magnetohydrodynamics and entropy generation through porous media. To the best of author’s knowledge, this model is reported for the first time.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the thermal, hydraulic and entropy generation characteristics for laminar flow of water through a ribbed-wavy channel with the top wall as wavy and bottom wall as flat with ribs of three different geometries, namely, triangular, rectangular and semi-circular.

The finite element method-based numerical solver has been adopted to solve the governing transport equations.

A critical value of Reynolds number (Re_cri) is found beyond which, the average Nusselt number for the wavy or ribbed-wavy channel is more than that for a parallel plate channel and the value of Re_cri decreases with the increase in a number of ribs and for any given number of ribs, it is minimum for rectangular ribs. The performance factor (PF) sharply decreases with Reynolds number (Re) up to Re = 50 for all types of ribbed-wavy channels. For Re > 50, the change in PF with Re is gradual and decreases for all the ribbed cases and for the sinusoidal channel, it increases beyond Re = 100. The magnitude of PF strongly depends on the shape and number of ribs and Re. The relative magnitude of total entropy generation for different ribbed channels varies with Re and the number of ribs.

The findings of the present study are useful to design the economic heat exchanging devices.

The effects of shape and the number of ribs on the heat transfer performance and entropy generation have been investigated for the first time for the laminar flow regime. Also, the effects of shape and number of ribs on the flow and temperature fields and entropy generation have been investigated in detail.

This paper aims to emphasize on studying various geometrical modification performed in wavy and raccoon microchannel by manipulating parameters, i.e. waviness (γ), expansion factor (α), wall to fluid thermal conductivity ratio (k_sf), substrate thickness to channel height ratio (d_sf) and Reynolds number (Re) for obtaining optimum parameter(s) that leads to higher heat dissipation rate.

A three-dimensional solid-fluid conjugate heat transfer numerical model is designed to capture flow characteristics and heat transfer in single-phase laminar flow microchannels. The governing equations are solved using finite volume method.

The results are presented in terms of average base temperature, average Nusselt number, pressure drop, dimensionless local heat flux, dimensionless wall and bulk fluid temperature, local Nusselt number and performance factor including axial conduction number. Heat dissipation rate with raccoon microchannel configuration is found to be higher compared to straight and wavy microchannel. With waviness of γ = 0.167, and 0.267 in wavy and raccoon microchannel, respectively, performance factor attains maximum value compared to other waviness for all values of Reynolds number. It is also found that the effect of axial wall conduction in wavy and raccoon microchannel is negligible. Additionally, thermal performance of wavy and raccoon microchannel is compared with straight microchannel.

In recent past years, much complex design of microchannel has been proposed for heat transfer enhancement, but the feasibility of available manufacturing techniques to fabricate complex geometries is still questionable. However, fabrication of wavy and raccoon microchannel is easy, and their heat dissipation capability is higher.

This makes the difference in wall and bulk fluid temperature smaller. Thus, present work highlighted the dominance of axial wall conduction on thermal and hydrodynamic performance of wavy and raccoon microchannel under conjugate heat transfer situation.

This study aims to minimize the pressure drop across wavy microchannels using secondary branches without compromising its capacity to transfer the heat. The impact of secondary flows on the pressure drop and heat transfer capabilities at different Reynolds numbers are investigated numerically for different wavy microchannels. Finally, different channels are evaluated using performance evaluation criteria to determine their effectiveness.

To investigate the flow and heat transfer capabilities in wavy microchannels having secondary branches, a 3D conjugate heat transfer model based on finite volume method is used. In conventional wavy microchannel, secondary branches are introduced at crest and trough locations. For the numerical simulation, a single symmetrical channel is used to minimize computational time and resources and the flow within the channels remains single-phase and laminar.

The findings indicate that the suggested secondary channels notably improve heat transfer and decrease pressure drop within the channels. At lower flow rates, the secondary channels demonstrate superior performance in terms of heat transfer. However, the performance declines as the flow rate increased. With the same amplitude and wavelength, the introduction of secondary channels reduces the pressure drop compared with conventional wavy channels. Due to the presence of secondary channels, the flow splits from the main channel, and part of the core flow gets diverted into the secondary channel as the flow takes the path of minimum resistance. Due to this flow split, the core velocity is reduced. An increase in flow area helps in reducing pressure drop.

Many complex and intricate microchannels are proposed by the researchers to augment heat dissipation. There are challenges in the fabrication of microchannels, such as surface finish and achieving the required dimensions. However, due to the recent developments in metal additive manufacturing and microfabrication techniques, the complex shapes proposed in this paper are feasible to fabricate.

Wavy channels are widely used in heat transfer and micro-fluidics applications. The proposed wavy microchannels with secondary channels are different when compared to conventional wavy channels and can be used practically to solve thermal challenges. They help achieve a lower pressure drop in wavy microchannels without compromising heat transfer performance.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the heat and momentum transfer for steady two-dimensional incompressible nanofluid flow through a wavy channel with linearly varying amplitude in the entrance region.

The mass, momentum and energy conservation equations for laminar flow of Cu-water nanofluids are computationally solved using the finite element method. A parametric study is carried out by varying the dimensionless length of the channel section with varying amplitude (EL), Reynolds number (Re) and nanoparticle volume fraction (Φ) in the ranges 0 ≤ EL ≤ 25.5, 105 ≤ Re ≤ 900 and 0 ≤ Φ ≤ 0.04.

A higher heat transfer rate is seen in the wavy channel compared to a plane channel beyond a critical value of Re (Re_crit) whose value varies with EL; moreover, the overall heat transfer decreases with EL. The heat transfer rate increases with phi for all EL values investigated. The combined effects of the increase in the overall heat transfer and the associated pressure drop in the wavy channel compared to the parallel plate channel are presented as performance factor (PF) against EL. For the highest value of EL (= 25.5), PF monotonically decreases with Re. For smaller values of EL (= 5.5 and 11.5) and also for EL = 0, PF decreases with Re in the lower and the higher Re regimes, while it increases in the intermediate Re regime. In all cases, PF is higher for φ = 0.04 than for the base fluid. The sensitivity of the average Nusselt number to nanoparticle volume fraction follows a non-monotonic trend with the change in Re, φ and EL.

This study finds relevance in several applications such as solar collectors, heat exchangers and heat sinks.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the analysis of forced convection flow of nanofluid through a wavy channel with linearly varying amplitude is reported for the first time in the literature.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze numerically forced convective conjugate heat transfer characteristics for laminar flow through a wavy minichannel.

The mass and momentum conservation equations for the flow of water in the fluidic domain and the coupled energy conservation equations in both the fluid and solid domain are solved numerically using the finite element method. The exteriors of both the walls are subjected to a uniform heat flux.

The results reveal that the theoretical model without consideration of the effect of wall thickness always predicts a lower value of average Nusselt number ( Nu¯) as compared to the case of conjugate analysis, although it varies with the thickness as well as material of the wall. For the low amplitude of the wall (α = 0.2), the performance factor (PF) becomes very high for Re in the regime of 5 (⩽) Re (⩽) 15. For any geometrical configurations, conjugate heat transfer analysis predicts higher PF as compared to that of nonconjugate analysis.

The present study finds relevance in several applications, such as solar collectors and heat exchangers used in chemical industries and heating-ventilation and air-conditioning, etc.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the analysis of combined influences of the thickness and the material of the wall of the channel together with the geometrical parameters of the channel, namely, amplitude and wavelength on the heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics for flow through wavy minichannel in the laminar regime is reported first time in the literature.