Numerical simulation of flow and heat transfer in swirl microchannels

Swirl microchannel heat exchanger has the potential to transfer high density thermal flux. It will have great application prospect in solving thermal control problem of aviation and aerospace high power density component. On the basis of experimental research, a numerical simulation of flow and heat transfer in swirl microchannels was conducted. The computation using the finite volume method was performed under different flux for several test sections with different channel structure. The flow stability in the swirl microchannel was analyzed. The variation curves of local friction factor and Nusselt number along flow channel were presented. The enhancing heat transfer in swirl microchannel was discussed with field synergy principle. The calculated mean heat transfer coefficients and flow friction factors were compared with experimental data. The results show that the secondary flow is the mechanics strengthening heat transfer in swirl micrcochannel.