Heat transfer enhancement in laminar microchannel flow by Monte Carlo simulations

As the power density of computer chips increases, the cooling of the chip becomes more important because it helps ensure the reliability of the chip. The topic of this thesis is a relatively new technique for cooling computer chips using tubes filled with a fluid containing nanoparticles that enhance the heat transfer from the chip. A simulation modeling the particle motion and heat transfer will be created in using two programming methods, Matlab and LabView. The computational time will be compared to determine which computing method is the quickest. Finally, a sensitivity analysis will be completed to determine which variables have the most influence on heat transfer.

The results show a slight increase in heat transfer when using nanofluids. The heat transfer increase is a maximum for the ethylene glycol nanofluid at a volumetric concentration of 10% of 25 nm copper particles, having a 2% increase in heat transfer due to the motion of the particles in the fluid. The thesis also shows there is a heat transfer enhancement when the interfacial layer is considered, which is in line with present experimental data. Finally the sensitivity analysis shows that the most influential variable on heat transfer is the particle diameter. This finding is also consistent with current literature.