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Study of forced convection turbulent flow over a heated microprocessor chip

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Abstract

A numerical investigation is carried out to enhance the cooling performance of a CPU integrated with several semi-circular fins. For this purpose, a three-dimensional model of a heated microprocessor chip (square channel) embedded with semicircular fins is created and a numerical simulation is carried out to investigate its cooling performance subjected to forced convection turbulent flow. The \(k-\epsilon\) realizable turbulent model is considered due to its suitability in industrial applications as it is robust and computationally strong. The heat transfer rate is investigated by means of local Nusselt number and skin friction along the direction of flow. The average Nusselt number at different Reynolds number ranging from 4000 to 10,000 is also evaluated. The effect of semi-circular fin is clearly visible as the local Nusselt number varies significantly near the fins. The velocity of air behind the fins is deteriorated due to which the mixing of hot and cold fluid takes place. Due to the high mixing rate, the convective heat transfer rate increases at high Reynolds number. At the junction between the fins and cold fluid, more skin friction develops and then it gradually deteriorates until next semi-circular fin. The comparison is also made between the channels embedded with and without fins at different Reynolds number. The result shows lower skin friction near the fin area at high Reynolds number for the channel embedded with micro semi-circular fins.

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Abbreviations

H :

Height

B :

Breadth

L :

Length

p :

Pressure

T :

Temperature

k :

Thermal conductivity

\({G}_{k}\) :

Generation of turbulent kinetic energy

\({P}_{k}\) :

Turbulence production rate

I :

Turbulence intensity

k :

Turbulent kinetic energy

q :

Heat flux

\(P\) :

Dimensionless pressure

Pr :

Prandtl number

Nu :

Nusselt number

Nu x :

Local Nusselt number

Nu avg :

Average Nusselt number

Re :

Reynolds number

u, v :

Components of velocity

\(U\),\(V\) :

Dimensionless of velocity component

x, y :

Cartesian coordinates

X, Y, Z :

Dimensionless of Cartesian coordinates

ρ :

Density

α :

Thermal diffusivity

α t :

Turbulent thermal diffusivity

Ɛ :

Turbulent dissipation rate

\(\mu\) :

Viscosity of fluid

\({\mu }_{t}\) :

Turbulent viscosity of fluid

ʋ :

Kinematic viscosity

ʋ t :

Turbulent kinematic viscosity

\(\theta\) :

Dimensionless temperature

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi, India

    Praveen J. Sanga & Ramesh Oraon

  2. Department of Mathematics, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi, India

    Prabal Datta

Authors
  1. Praveen J. Sanga
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  2. Ramesh Oraon
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  3. Prabal Datta
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Correspondence to Praveen J. Sanga.

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Communicated by S Ponnusamy.

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Sanga, P.J., Oraon, R. & Datta, P. Study of forced convection turbulent flow over a heated microprocessor chip. J Anal (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41478-023-00610-6

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