Heat transfer characteristics of developing gaseous slip-flow in rectangular microchannels with variable physical properties

The effects of variable physical properties on the flow and heat transfer characteristics of simultaneously developing slip-flow in rectangular microchannels with constant wall temperature are numerically investigated. A colocated finite-volume method is used in order to solve the mass, momentum and energy equations in their most general form. Various channel aspect ratios are studied at different Knudsen numbers. Simulations indicate that the constant physical property assumption can result in under/over-prediction of the local friction and heat transfer coefficients depending on the problem configuration. Density and thermo-physical property variations have significant effects on predicting flow and heat transfer characteristics in the developing and fully-developed regions. The degree of discrepancy varies for different cases depending on Knudsen number, aspect ratio and the temperature difference between the channel inlet and the wall. The results suggest that even low temperature differences can alter the friction and heat transfer coefficients considerably. (c) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.