Conjugate Heat Transfer in a Converging Microchannel

Abstract

A numerical simulation is performed to comprehend the effects of axial back conduction in the solid substrate in a conjugate heat transfer having steady and laminar flow. A heat flux with constant magnitude is applied at the lower end of the substrate and the remaining surfaces were insulated. Working fluid used is water having slug velocity profile at the inlet of the channel. The thermal conductivity ratio (ksf) has been varied in a wide range of 0.33 to 702, thickness of the substrate has been changed for varying thickness ratio (dsf) of 1 to 4, keeping the width of substrate unchanged to quantify its effect on the axial back conduction and simultaneously, the Reynolds number is varied from 100 to 500. Simulations have been carried out with converging microchannel along with the straight microchannel with the dimension of inlet and outlet of the converging microchannel and the result is compared with converging microchannel and a systematic study was done to comprehend the effect of axial back conduction by varying all the parameters as mentioned above.