Open Access

ARTICLE

Lattice Boltzmann Simulation of Nanoparticle Transport and Attachment in a Microchannel Heat Sink

by Xiaokang Tian¹, Kai Yue^1,2,*, Yu You^1,2, Yongjian Niu¹, Xinxin Zhang^1,2

1 School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China
2 Shunde Graduate School of University of Science and Technology Beijing, Shunde, 528399, China

* Corresponding Author: Kai Yue. Email:

Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing 2021, 17(2), 301-317. https://doi.org/10.32604/fdmp.2021.013521

Received 10 August 2020; Accepted 24 December 2020; Issue published 02 April 2021

Abstract

The heat transfer performances of a microchannel heat sink in the presence of a nanofluid can be affected by the attachment of nanoparticle (NP) on the microchannel wall. In this study, the mechanisms underlying NP transport and attachment are comprehensively analyzed by means of a coupled double-distribution-function lattice Boltzmann model combined with lattice-gas automata. Using this approach, the temperature distribution and the two-phase flow pattern are obtained for different values of the influential parameters. The results indicate that the number of attached NPs decrease exponentially as their diameter and the fluid velocity grow. An increase in the wall temperature leads to an increase of the attached NPs, e.g., the Al₂O₃ NPs attached on the CuO microchannel wall increases by 105.8% in the range between 293 K and 343 K. There are more attached NPs in microchannels with an irregular structure. The tendency of SiO₂ NP to attach to the PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane), Fe and Cu walls is less significant than that for Al₂O₃ and CuO NP; Moreover, NPs detach from the PDMS microchannel wall more easily than from the Cu and Fe microchannel walls. The SiO₂ attachment layer has the greatest influence on the heat transfer performance although its thickness is thinner than that for Al₂O₃ and CuO NPs under the same conditions.

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Keywords

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