Flow Rate Optimization for Thermal-FSI of Minichannel Heat Sink: A Numerical approach

The thermal fluid-structure interaction (thermal-FSI) is a new technique that is being used to find out the optimal flow rate at which the thermal stresses and temperature drop are at their minimal level for minichannel. For this, a numerical investigation is developed on the Thermal-FSI of minichannel heat sinks. Based on the different meshing configurations, the optimum flow rate for the microchannel heat sink was evaluated. Equivalent stress, thermal resistance, base temperature, and overall heat transfer coefficient were calculated and compared with different meshing heat sink configurations. A comparison was also made between the mesh configuration and the relative simulation time. Besides, the effect of flow rate with the simultaneous effect of temperature and flow rate on the produced stresses was also observed. Heat sink geometry with the best thermal performance was also simulated for higher heat fluxes within the same operating limits. Moreover, results were validated using available correlations and previously published literature. Flow maldistribution, pressure drop, and local heat transfer coefficient in the shape configuration are also presented in the current study. The thermal performance of the mini-channel heat sink improved significantly and 0.7 LPM optimum flow rate was measured for an average meshing size of 0.85 mm at the threshold temperature of 103.05 degrees C. Moreover, the produced stresses were calculated to be 124.2 MPa. It is also concluded that the structural parameters should also be considered for designing the mini/microchannel heat sink.