Abstract
The computational modeling and design of an actively-cooled microvascular fin specimen is presented. The design study is based on three objective functions: (i) minimizing the maximum temperature in the thermally loaded fin, (ii) optimizing the flow efficiency of the embedded microchannel, and (iii) minimizing the void volume fraction of the microvascular material. A recently introduced Interface-enriched Generalized Finite Element Method (IGFEM) is employed to evaluate the temperature field in a 2D model of the specimen, allowing for the accurate and efficient capturing of the gradient discontinuity along the fluid/solid interface without the need of meshes that conform to the geometry of the problem. Finding the optimal shape of the embedded microchannel is thus accomplished with a single non-conforming mesh for all configurations. Prior to the optimization study, the IGFEM solver is validated through comparison with infrared measurements of the thermal response of an epoxy fin with a sinusoidal microchannel.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 5309-5321 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer |
Volume | 55 |
Issue number | 19-20 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 2012 |
Keywords
- Active cooling
- Biomimetic
- Convection-diffusion equation
- GFEM/XFEM
- Infrared imaging
- Microvascular materials
- Shape optimization
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Mechanical Engineering
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes