The Effect of Axial Conduction on Heat Transfer in a Liquid Microchannel Flow

Authors

Kevin D. Cole, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Barbaros Çetin, Middle East Technical University–Northern Cyprus Campus Kalkanlı, Turkey

Date of this Version

5-2011

Comments

Published in International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 54:11-12 (May 2011), pp. 2542–2549; doi: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2011.02.007 Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. Used by permission.

Abstract

Analysis is presented for conjugate heat transfer in a parallel-plate microchannel. Axial conduction in the fluid and in the adjacent wall are included. The fluid is a constant property liquid with a fully-developed velocity distribution. The microchannel is heated by a uniform heat flux applied to the outside of the channel wall. The analytic solution is given in the form of integrals by the method of Green’s functions. Quadrature is used to obtain numerical results for the local and average Nusselt number for various flow velocities, heating lengths, wall thicknesses, and wall conductivities. These results have application in the optimal design of small-scale heat transfer devices in areas such as biomedical devices, electronic cooling, and advanced fuel cells.