Influence of slim obstacle geometry on the flow and heat transfer in microchannels

This paper presents a computational study on hydrodynamic and heat transfer characteristics of the laminar flow inside a rectangular 2D microchannel of height H, which includes a slim micro obstacle of height h and width w placed on the lower wall of the channel. The Reynolds number varies between 20 and 200. Three different values of height h and two different shapes of the slim obstacles: triangular and rectangular one, are considered. Thus, a total of 24 geometrical configurations of fluid flow are analyzed. Fluid flow equations are solved using the commercial CFD package of ADINA R&D, Inc. 9.1. Detailed analysis of the fluid velocity field and streamlines is carried out to investigate the flows in recirculation zone behind the obstacle. Results obtained show that the rectangular obstacle caused larger vortex formation in fluid flow. For flows with larger value of the (h/H) ratio, an increase in the value of loss coefficient factors is observed. Meanwhile, the increased Reynolds number causes the vortex zone behind the rectangular obstacle to be larger than behind the triangular one.