Computational Analysis of Subcooled Flow Boiling in a Vertical Minichannel with Two Different Shapes under Various Mass Fluxes

In the current research project, two-dimensional numerical simulations are conducted to analyze the effects of geometrical configuration on flow structures and the thermal performances of subcooled flow boiling. The CFD simulations are carried out in two different configurations (straight and periodic constriction expansion) in a minichannel mounted vertically at four mass fluxes (500 kg/m2s; 836.64 kg/m2s; 1170 kg/m2s; and 2535 kg/m2s). The present predicted results exhibit excellent accordance with the previous experiments, with mean errors of 6.39% and 9.78%, demonstrating the efficiency of the present numerical study. The simulation results show that the periodic constriction expansion design provides good mixing between the layers, leading to a 43.11% mean enhancement of the thermal transfer, which is more important than the slight pressure drop penalty of 4.32 for a mass flux of 500 kg/m2s due to the combined pressure drop along the minichannel that resulted from the periodic constriction and expansion regions. Furthermore, the visualization of flow patterns shows that the bubbly flow is the dominant flow regime in the periodic constriction-expansion configuration

Experimental and numerical investigations of local condensation heat transfer in a single square microchannel under variable heat flux

International audienceThis paper presents an experimental investigation on the local and average condensation heat transfer in a single noncircular microchannel. Furthermore, it develops one dimensional model for annular condensation flow in a microchannel under variable heat flux condition. The condensate film thickness is calculated for each location in a microchannel including the effects of capillary number, Boiling number, contact angle, heat flux, vapor pressure, and hydraulic diameter. A comparative study shows that the present model well predicts the experimental data concerning local condensation heat transfer coefficient. The mean deviation between the local predictions of the theoretical model with the measurements for local heat transfer coefficient is 20%. It is found that the correlation of Quan et al. (2008) [19] gives the good predictions of the measurements with maximum deviation of 13% at high Reynolds number

Numerical study of nanofluids condensation heat transfer in a square microchannel

International audienceThis paper presents a numerical study of nanofluids condensation heat transfer inside a single horizontal smooth square tube. The numerical results are compared with the previous experimental predictions. The numerical results show that the heat transfer coefficient could be improved within 20% by increasing the volume fraction of Cu nanoparticle by 5% or by increasing the mass flux from 80 to 110 kg/m2 s. Reducing the hydraulic diameter of the microchannel from 200 to 160 µm leads to an increase in the condensation average heat transfer coefficient by 10%. A new correlation estimating the Nusselt number for the condensation of nanofluids or pure vapor is proposed. It predicts average condensation heat transfer with a good agreement with those computed

ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN MICRO-EVAPORATOR

This paper presents CFD predictions for the evaporation in a microchannel for inlet mass flux in the range 10 up to 100 kg/m²s, under atmospheric pressure. The model solves the Navier-Stokes equations along with the energy conservation equation and the species transport equations; the Volume of Fluid (VOF) methodology has been utilized to capture the liquid-vapor interface using an adaptive local grid refinement technique aiming to minimize the computational cost and achieve high resolution at the liquid-gas interface region. A two dimensional microchannel of length 1000µm and hydraulic diameter of 100µm was developed in ANSYS FLUENT 13. Results were analyzed in term of the variation of volume fraction of vapor at different locations along the microchannel