Three Dimensional Numerical Analysis of Laminar Slip-Flow Heat Transfer in Rectangular Microchannels

Slip-flow and heat transfer in rectangular microchannels are studied numerically for constant wall temperature (T) and constant wall heat flux (H2) boundary conditions under thermally developing flow. Navier-Stokes and energy equations with velocity slip and temperature jump at the boundary are solved using finite volume method in a three dimensional cartesian coordinate system. A modified convection-diffusion coefficient at the wall-fluid interface is defined to incorporate the temperature-jump boundary condition. Validity of the numerical simulation procedure is stabilized. The effect of rarefaction on heat transfer in the entrance region is analyzed in detail. The velocity slip has an increasing effect on the Nusselt (Nu) number whereas temperature jump has a decreasing effect, and the combined effect could result increase or decrease in the Nu number. For the range of parameters considered, there could be high as 15% increase or low as 50% decrease in fully developed Nu is plausible for T thermal boundary condition while it could be high as 20% or low as 35% for H2 thermal boundary condition.© 2008 ASME