Computational Modeling and Design of Actively-Cooled Microvascular Materials
Abstract
The computational modeling and design of an actively-cooled microvascular fin specimen is presented. The design study is based on three objective functions: (i) minimizing the maximum temperature in the thermally loaded fin, (ii) optimizing the flow efficiency of the embedded microchannel, and (iii) minimizing the void volume fraction of the microvascular material. A recently introduced Interface-enriched Generalized Finite Element Method (IGFEM) is employed to evaluate the temperature field in a 2D model of the specimen, allowing for the accurate and efficient capturing of the gradient discontinuity along the fluid/solid interface without the need of meshes that conform to the geometry of the problem. Finding the optimal shape of the embedded microchannel is thus accomplished with a single non-conforming mesh for all configurations. Prior to the optimization study, the IGFEM solver is validated through comparison with infrared measurements of the thermal response of an epoxy fin with a sinusoidal microchannel
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 14, 2012
- Accession Number
- ADA587941
Entities
People
- Nancy Sottos
- Philippe H Geubelle
- Piyush R. Thakre
- Scott R. White
- Soheil Soghrati
Organizations
- University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign