Effect of aspect ratio and bifurcation angle on single phase flow through branched structure microchannel

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Authors
Vellore Kumaraswamy, Pavan
Advisors
Ravigururajan, Tiruvadi S.
Issue Date
2017-12
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Thesis
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Abstract

The introduction of microchannel heat exchangers (MCHE) has revolutionized the cooling technology which has led to the miniaturization of devices. MCHEs are highly preferred in many applications because of their characteristic large heat transfer area to unit volume leading to higher efficiency compared to conventional heat exchangers. Due to their compactness, they are mainly used in electronic cooling; in recent times, their application is extended to the medical field for cooling scanning equipment. However, the small channel size increases pressure drop. Present study focuses on optimizing the performance of the MCHEs by carrying out single phase flow analysis of lung bronchial like branched structure in ANSYS (Fluent) with different aspect ratios (AR) between 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 at the inlet, and at different bifurcation angles of 30, 45 and 60 and 70 degrees. Symmetric geometry containing four bifurcation levels were designed. A number of geometries were created for varying bifurcation angle and varying aspect ratio. Simulations were carried out for steady state and laminar flow conditions. Results so far show that pressure drop decreased with increase in AR and achieved better uniformity in temperature throughout the channel length for higher AR.

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Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
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Wichita State University
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