Heat transfer and flowfields in short microchannels using Direct Simulation Monte Carlo

We explore the applicability of the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method to the fluid and thermal analysis of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). Flows in two-dimensional microchannels are investigated because they represent basic geometrical components of MEMS. Supersonic, subsonic, and pressure-driven, low-speed flows are simulated by DSMC in microchannels of varying aspect ratios for a range of continuum to transitional regime rarefied flows. Both hot and ambient wall temperature cases are presented. The results are strongly dependent on Knudsen number and channel aspect ratio. They are in qualitative agreement with other computational and experimental results for longer microchannels.