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Efficient thermal management is critical for electronic components and other heat-generating devices. An effective cooling solutions is the use of pin fin heat sinks, which enhance heat dissipation by increasing surface area and improving airflow interaction with the surface.
In this mini project, we perform a Conjugate Heat Transfer (CHT) simulation to analyze the thermal performance of a pin fin heat sink under forced convection. This project highlights how a basic CHT simulation can be performed and how the results of the simulation can be analyzed.
Simulation Settings:
Turbulence model: k-omega SST
Solver(P-V coupling): SIMPLE
Inlet: Air at 5 m/s and 275 K
Pin Fin's Base: 25000 W/m^2 Heat Flux
Outlet: 0 Pa
Results
The image shows the contour of temperature along the flow and on the pin fin surface. We observe that as the air flows along the domain, it gets heated up due to the heat flux on the bottom of the pin-fin. On the pin-fin, the temperature decreases on the front side where cold air hits first. The pin-fins at the back are not cooled as efficiently as the ones on the front.
The image shows the temperature contour on the pin-fin surface. As highlighted previously, the pin fins in the front are cooled more effectively when compared to the ones at the back.
The image shows the Nusselt number contour on the fluid interface near the pin fin. It is observed on that the the Nusselt number on the front pin fins is higher. This is due to high convective heat transfer where velocity if high. As the air passes through the pin fin, Nusselt number reduces due to lower air speed, which reduces the convective heat transfer. Wake interactions of air along the pin fin can create localized high Nusselt Number zones, which can be observed on the surface of the pin fin.
The image shows the Prandtl number contour on the fluid interface near the pin fin. It is observed on that the Prandtl number on the tips of the front pin fins has lower values. This is because, as the fluid hits the surface, it looses its momentum, which in turn reduces the turbulent kinetic energy. This reduces the turbulent viscosity ( turbulent viscosity = rho*k/omega) ) and the Prandtl number decreases.
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