International Journal of Thermal Sciences 152 (2020) 106320

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International Journal of Thermal Sciences

journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ijts

Experimental and numerical investigation of heat and mass transfer in

non-uniform wavy microchannels
Ding Yuan a, b, Wei Zhou a, *, Ting Fu b, Chengzhong Liu a
a
Department of Mechanical & Electrical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China
b
Wuhan University of Science & Technology, Key Laboratory of Metallurgical Equipment & Control Technology, Ministry of Education, Wuhan, 430081, Hubei, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: To improve the thermal performance of microchannel heat sinks, non-uniform wavy microchannels were
Non-uniform wavy microchannel designed and their heat and mass transfer performance were studied by a numerical method. The effects of the
Flow mechanism Reynolds number, Re, and the peak deviation position on the thermal-hydraulic performances of the micro­
Heat transfer enhancement
channels were analyzed based on the performance evaluation criteria (PEC) and the principle of entropy gen­
Thermal resistance
Entropy generation analysis
eration. The numerical analysis indicated that the heat transfer performance of the divergent wavy microchannel
(denoted as MCH-41, with the peak position far from the fluid entrance) exhibited better heat transfer perfor­
mance than that of the uniform (denoted as MCH-05) and the convergent wavy (denoted as MCH-14) micro­
channels. The thermal resistance and entropy generation of MCH-41 were lower than those of MCH-05 and MCH-
14. Moreover, a flow visualization platform was established to observe the periodic pulsation characteristics of
the fluid at Re ¼ 693. The enhanced heat and mass transfer mechanism of the divergent wavy microchannel was
further analyzed. The experimental results were in agreement with the numerical simulation results.

transfer. Khoshvaght-Aliabadi et al. [13,14] studied the effects of the

1. Introduction
Along with the miniaturization of reactors, the requirement for more
compact and effective exchanger becomes higher and higher. Micro­
channels constitute the core of micro-reactor and micro-heat ex­
changers. Actually, microchannel are wildly used both in the heating
chamber of hydrogen production reactor [1–3] and the bipolar plate of
the fuel cell [4,5]. Meanwhile, Studies have shown that the micro­
channel with highly effective heat and mass transfer improves the re­
action efficiency of hydrogen production and the power density of fuel
cell. There are several methods to enhance the heat transfer performance
of microchannels [6,7], such as the application of an appropriate
working fluid [8–11] or the optimization of the structure of micro­
channels [12–14]. Some research work has been reported because these
methods do not require additional power (except for the imported pump
power). For example, Rosaguti et al. [12] studied the flow of serpentine
fields, and Dean vortice was found at the bend of the serpentine flow
field. When the Reynolds number (Re) was greater than the critical
value, the Dean vortice had an effect on the flow in the flat straight
segment, inducing mixing without generating a large pressure drop,
which demonstrated that the serpentine flow field could enhance heat
wavelength and amplitude on the cooling performance of a sinusoidal
wave microchannel with rectangular cross section.
From above research results, it is found that waves can improve the
heat performance of microchannels. Some researchers have studied the
heat transfer characteristics of wavy microchannels. For example, Tapas
and Nandi [15–18] conducted thorough research on wavy micro­
channels. It was found that wavy passage did not provide significant
heat transfer enhancement when the flow was steady, particularly at
very low Reynolds number. However, significant increase in heat
transfer was observed when the flow was unsteady [15]. They also found
the incorporation of a sinusoidal varying velocity component into steady
flow in a wavy microchannel proved to be a robust way of enhancing the
heat transfer [16,17]. Sui et al. [19] studied the heat transfer properties
of wavy microchannels with rectangular cross section. Their studies
demonstrated that Dean vortices could be developed within the
wavy-axis microchannel. At the same time, the number and position of
the vortices were found to be changing along the direction of flow, and
thus inducing efficient chaotic mixing. Montelpare et al. [20] studied the
heat transfer capability of pin fins with different cross sections and
measured their temperature using an infrared camera. Their study
indicated that the Nusselt number (Nu) of microchannels with triangular

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: weizhou@xmu.edu.cn (W. Zhou).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijthermalsci.2020.106320
Received 1 September 2019; Received in revised form 6 February 2020; Accepted 6 February 2020
Available online 25 February 2020
1290-0729/© 2020 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
D. Yuan et al.
Nomenclature
a Wave amplitude,mm
A Area, m2
cp Specific heat capacity, J/(kg⋅K)
Dh hydraulic diameter, mm
f Friction factor, unitless
H Total height of base plate, mm
H1 Depth of microchannel, mm
k Thermal conductivity, W/(m⋅K)
L Microchannel length, mm
Lch Length of wavy part of the wavy microchannel, mm
RT Thermal resistance, K/W
t Microchannel thickness, mm
Nu Nusselt number, dimensionless
Ns,a Entropy generation number, dimensionless
P Pressure, Pa
PEC Performance evaluation criteria, dimensionless
ΔP Pressure drop, Pa
Qtot Total heat flux, W
qw Heat flux at the bottom of heat sink, W/m2
U velocity vector, m/s
and diamond pin fins were higher than that of pin fins with square and
circular cross-section. The complex flow in the wavy microchannel
under different piezoelectric drivers was studied by Cho et al. [21].
Their study demonstrated that sufficient power can be generated to
overcome the viscosity effect near the microchannel wall, and the for­
mation of secondary flow within the wave could be inhibited by the
appropriate combination of the external electric field and pressure. Yin
et al. [22] studied the effects of the phase angle of the wave and Re (in
the range of 2000–10000) on the heat transfer and flow characteristics
of a microchannel consisting of wavy plates on both the upper and lower
sides. Their study indicated that there was a significant enhancement of
the heat transfer in the microchannel with waves on both sidewalls.
However, it was also accompanied by a pressure loss. Dai et al. [23]
studied the heat transfer performance of Z-type microchannels with
semi-circular cross section using high-speed micro-particle image
velocimetry (micro-PIV) visualization technology. Their studies showed
that transient flows were developed with Reynolds number of 215,
which was significantly lower than the prediction value. It may be
attributed that the flow was very sensitive to the inlet conditions in the
experiment and the early shift of the flow pattern was probably due to
the disturbance of the inlet air flow. Zheng et al. [24] found that with the
increase in the Reynolds number, the scale of the vortice in a Z-shaped
periodic channel became smaller, thus facilitating the enhancement of
the heat transfer, which was proportional to Pr1/3. Pehlivan et al. [25]
experimentally studied the effects of the wave shape, channel height,
and Reynolds number on the heat transfer performance of sinusoid wavy
channels.
In addition, the effects of conical rings on the heat transfer perfor­
mance of the channel was also studied because convergent or divergent
channels could be formed by changing the arrangement of the conical
rings or the direction of the fluid flow. The results have demonstrated
that the conical divergent channel could improve the effectiveness of
heat transfer. For example, Lee et al. [26] demonstrated that divergent
rectangular channels with angled ribs on both sidewalls had the best
heat transfer performance. Mohammed et al. [27] employed a finite
volume method to study the thermal-hydraulic properties of turbulent
flow (Re in the range of 2000–10000) in a channel with conical rings
inserted into it. Their results showed that under the same pump power,
the heat transfer performance of the divergent channel was up to 365%
greater than that of the convergent channel. The Nusselt number
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International Journal of Thermal Sciences 152 (2020) 106320
Re Reynolds number, dimensionless
Sgen Total Entropy, W/K
Sgen,T Temperature Entropy, W/K
Sgen,F Flowing Entropy, W/K
T Period of fluid movement in divergent wavy microchannel,
ms
Tw Temperature at heat sink bottom, K
Tw,m Average temperature at heat sink bottom, K
Tin Mass-weighted average temperature of inlet fluid, K
Tout Mass-weighted average temperature of outlet fluid, K
uin Average inlet velocity of fluid, m/s
uout Average outlet velocity of fluid, m/s
um Average velocity of fluid, m/s
Wch Microchannel width, mm
x,y,z Coordinate
ρ density of fluid, kg/m3
μ Dynamic viscosity, Pa⋅s
λ Total wavelength, mm
λ1 First half-wave length, mm
λ2 Second half-wave length, mm
f Subscript of fluid
s Subscript of solid
increased with the increase in the nanoparticle volume fraction and
Reynolds number and the two-phase mixing model was more accurate
than the one-phase model. Yakut et al. [28] studied the entropy of the
fluid in a channel with a tapered ring turbulence generator, using the
method of entropy generation minimization principle that is based on
the second law of thermodynamics. The results showed that both the
heat transfer coefficient and the entropy increased with the decrease in
the conical ring spacing. In addition, considering the entropy principle,
the conical rings had a thermodynamic advantage with Reynolds num­
ber of up to 8000.
These studies have demonstrated that inserting conical rings in the
channel can promote the heat transfer coefficient of fluid. However, due
to the conical rings, vibration in the channel can develop easily. Espe­
cially, when the vortice shedding frequency of the boundary layer is
equal to the inherent frequency of the system, the fluid induces forced
vibration of turbulence generator [29,30]. When the vibration of the
turbulence generator is significantly high, it is difficult to obtain realistic
data of the system from certain physical measurement devices such as
flow rate meters or pressure gauges. In addition, these devices fail in a
short time due to periodic vortice fall-off and turbulence shocks result in
a long-term wear of the device. Moreover, inserting conical rings into
the microchannel to enhance heat transfer is not feasible. As the width of
microchannels is typically less than 1 mm, the size of conical rings needs
to be smaller than the microchannel width. The difficulties faced when
connecting conical rings to the microchannel also need to be considered.
Therefore, a machining method was proposed to fabricate the micro­
channels with the capability of accommodating conical rings (divergent
or convergence structure), resulting in non-uniform wavy micro­
channels. It is found that previous research work focused on the effects
of conical rings on the heat transfer of the fluid in a large-size channel
and at high Reynolds number. However, there is limited literatures re­
ported on the effects of conical rings on the heat transfer performance of
a microchannel to laminar flows with Reynolds number less than 822.
In this study, numerical simulation was adopted to investigate the
heat and mass transfer performance of non-uniform wavy micro­
channels. A flow visualization platform was established to observe the
flow behavior in a non-uniform wavy microchannel. Based on the nu­
merical simulation and experimental results, the mechanism of
enhanced heat transfer of non-uniform wavelength microchannels was
analyzed in detail.
D. Yuan et al. International Journal of Thermal Sciences 152 (2020) 106320

2. Physical model and experiments

2.1. Design and fabrication of microchannels

In this study, numerical simulations of smooth rectangular micro­

channel and wavy microchannels were performed. The width Wch, depth
Hch, and wall thickness t of the smooth rectangular microchannel were
1.0 mm each. To reduce the inlet and outlet effects on the simulation
results, L1 and L2 of smooth microchannel with length of 15 mm were
designed for both the entry and exit segments of all microchannels,
respectively. The fabrication of all wavy microchannels were based on a
rectangular microchannel, as shown in Fig. 1, where a was the wave
amplitude, λ1 and λ2 were the half-wave length, and λ was the total
wavelength of a wave unit, λ ¼ λ1þλ2. The amplitude and unit total
wavelength for all wavy microchannels were 0.5 and 5.0 mm, respec­
tively. In a uniform wavy microchannel, λ1 was equal to λ2, while λ1 and
λ2 were not equal in all non-uniform wavy microchannel. The samples
were labeled as follows: the smooth microchannel was denoted as MCH-
00 and the uniform microchannels with wavelength of 1 mm, 2.5 mm
and 5.0 mm were labeled as MCH-01, MCH-02.5 and MCH-05, respec­
tively. The non-uniform microchannel with λ1 ¼ 1.0 mm and λ2 ¼ 4.0
mm was denoted as MCH-14. Similarly, the non-uniform microchannel
with λ1 ¼ 4.0 mm and λ2 ¼ 1.0 mm was denoted as MCH-41. The MCH-
41 microchannel was obtained by milling the copper substrate by a ball
head mill with a diameter of 0.5 mm. Subsequently, the MCH-41sample
was washed in an ultrasonic bath for 1.5 h to remove surface stains due
to the fabrication process.
To observe the flow behavior in the wavy microchannel, we made a
non-uniform microchannel MCH-41 and designed a flow visualization
device, as shown in Fig. 2. The flow visualization device comprised a
copper cover plate, a glass plate, and a copper base plate. The glass plate
was located between the cover plate and the base plate, and the cover
plate was fastened to the base plate by bolts and positioning pins. Due to
the high roughness of the copper surface, it was difficult to fit another
plate completely. Therefore, glass glue was used to completely seal the
base plate and glass plate. Two fluid inlets, two ink inlets, and several
wavy microchannels were milled on the base plate. A micropump
(BLDC58211, Micropump Inc., USA) and a high-speed camera (Phantom
v611, Vision Research., USA) were used for flow visualization. When the
micropump was connected to different inlets, the effects of the wave
peak position on the flow could be observed.
3. Numerical methods
One microchannel was selected for the simulation, which included
the effect of the heat transfer from solid to fluid, based on the periodicity
of the microchannel structure and according to the available computing
power. The material of the cover plate in simulation model was set as
copper. For comparison with the wavy microchannels, a simulation was
also performed on a smooth rectangular microchannel. The working
fluid in the microchannel was deionized water. The following assump­
tions were made to simplify the calculation:
Fig. 2. Flow visualization device.
(1) single-phase and incompressible fluid,
(2) steady-state laminar flow,
(3) steady-state heat transfer,
(4) negligible effects of thermal radiation,
(5) constant physical parameters of solids and fluids, except for the
temperature-dependent viscosity of the fluid,
(6) negligible volume forces.
Based on the above assumptions, the continuity equation, and mo­
mentum and energy equations of the fluid domain can be obtained as
follows:
rU ¼ 0 (1)
ρðU ⋅ rUÞ ¼ rp þ r⋅ðμ ⋅ rUÞ (2)
�
ρ cp U ⋅ rTf ¼ λf r2 Tf (3)
For the solid regions, as U ¼ 0, only the energy equation needs to be
considered:
λs r2 Ts ¼ 0 (4)
In Equations of (1)–(4), subscripts f and s represent the fluid and
solid, respectively, U is the fluid velocity vector in unit of m/s, T is
temperature in unit of K, μ is the viscosity in unit of Pa⋅s, ρ is the density
in unit of kg/m3, cp is the specific heat capacity in unit of J/(kg⋅K), and kf
and ks are the thermal conductivities of the fluid and the solid, respec­
tively. Uniform inlet velocity conditions were used in the simulation.
The values of the inlet velocity uin were 0.12–0.72 m/s. The inlet tem­
perature, Tin, was 297 K and the heat flux, qw, was 60000 W/m2. There
were two domains in this model: heat sink solid domain and fluid
domain. So the coupled heat transfer model was employed and fluid-
solid domain interface boundary conditions were applied on the in­
terfaces between solid and fluid domain. Structured grids and local mesh
refinement method were applied for all microchannels, as shown in

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of a wavy microchannel: (a) configuration of the microchannel MCH41 (b) geometric size.

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D. Yuan et al. International Journal of Thermal Sciences 152 (2020) 106320

Fig. 3. Both sidewalls of the calculated microchannel were set as sym­ 3.2. Grid independence test
metry surfaces and the solid–liquid contact surface was set as coupling
faces. The remaining wall surfaces were considered to be adiabatic and The verification of the grid independence is necessary for the anal­
no-slip boundary condition. The governing equations were discretized ysis of the effects of various grid numbers on the calculation results.
and solved by second-order upwind and the SIMPLEC algorithm of the MCH-05 was considered as a verification example and a structured mesh
FLUENT software, with a convergence residual of 10 6. was used. Three mesh numbers were selected for independent verifica­
tion, and the grid numbers were 0.608 million (sparse), 1.457 million
3.1. Data processing (denser), and 2.005 million (extremely dense). The pressure and tem­
perature of the fluid along the centerline of MCH-05 were calculated at
This section describes the parameters identifying the thermal- Re ¼ 434, as shown in Fig. 4. It can be seen that the maximum deviation
hydraulic characteristics of the microchannel in the calculation and of pressure and temperature values of the 1.457 million grid number
evaluation criteria. The Reynolds number (Re) and hydraulic diameter were not higher than 2.9% and 0.6%, comparing with the results of the
(Dh) at the microchannel inlet can be calculated as: grid number of 2.005 million. This indicated that the result was suffi­
ciently accurate at the number of 1.457 million grids. However, the
ρuin Dh
Re ¼ (5) deviation of the result was larger at 0.608 million grids compared with
μ
that at 1.457 million grids. Therefore, a grid number of 1.457 million
2Wch Hch was used for discretizing the microchannel, which not only ensured the
Dh ¼ (6) accuracy of the calculation results, but also saved calculation time.
Wch þ Hch
For validating the accuracy and reliability of the numerical algo­
The average friction factor f and the pressure drop ΔP of the rithm, comparisons with theoretical results were conducted to study the
microchannel can be calculated as: local Nusselt number Nu3,z and friction factor f in the smooth rectan­
ΔPDh gular microchannel. Fig. 5(a) shows the comparison of the simulated
f¼ (7) result and the theoretical values of the friction factor f of the smooth
2ρu2in Lch
rectangular microchannel. The correlations of f [31] can be calculated
ΔP ¼ Pin Pout (8) as,
�� �2 �0:5
where Lch is the length of the wavy part of microchannel. Pin and Pout are f¼
1 0:8
þ ðP0 Þ2 (10)
the area weighted average static pressure of the inlet and outlet of the Re L=ðReDh Þ
wavy part, respectively. The average Nusselt number (Nu) can be �
calculated by: P0 ¼ 24 1 1:3553αc þ 1:9467α2c 1:7013α3c þ 0:9564α4c 0:2537α5c (11)

Nu ¼
Qtot Dh
(9) where, Po is Poiseuille number,αc ¼ Wch/Hch is aspect ratio of the
kfm Aht ½Tw 0:5ðTin þ Tout Þ� microchannel, where Wch and Hch are width and height of channel,
respectively. The comparison of local Nusselt number Nu3,z vs. Reynolds
where Qtot ¼ qw � Aw is the total heat, with heat flux qw and Aw ¼ (2t þ number of the smooth microchannel are shown in Fig. 5(b). The corre­
Wch) � Lch as the heating area of the heat sink, kf is the average thermal lations of Nu3,z can be calculated as Equation (12),
conductivity of fluid, Aht¼ (Wchþ2Hch) � Lch is the contact area of the
fluid and the microchannel, and Tin and Tout are the mass weighted Nu3; z ¼ Nu4; z ðNu3; fd = Nu4; fdÞ (12)
average temperature at the inlet and outlet of the wavy part of the Where the Nu3,fd and Nu4,fd were the fully developed Numbers [32].
microchannel. It was indicated that the friction factor f and Nu3,z obtained from
simulation were consistent with the classical solutions, and the
maximum error was not more than 5%, respectively. Therefore, the
reliability and accuracy of numerical algorithm were verified.

Fig. 4. Verification of grid independence: comparison of pressure and tem­

Fig. 3. Computational grid for the microchannel MCH-14. perature at various grid numbers at Re ¼ 434.

4
D. Yuan et al.
Fig. 5. Comparisons of numerical and theoretical results (a) friction factor f as a function of Re, (b) local Nusselt number Nu3,z along the flow direction.
4. Results and discussion
4.1. Pressure drop characteristics
When fluid flows through the channel, flow resistance is generated
due to the viscosity of the fluid, which results in a gradual decrease in
the flow pressure. Fig. 6 shows the pressure drop as a function of Rey­
nolds number for microchannels with different types. As can be seen in
Fig. 6, the pressure drop ΔP values of MCH-01 and MCH-02.5 were
significantly higher than those of the MCH-00 and MCH-05 at the same
Reynolds number. The ΔP value of MCH-02.5 was approximately 84.3%
higher than that of MCH-00, and the highest value was 112.3%. This was
because the decrease in the wavelength increased the flow velocity and
flow resistance of the fluid. Moreover, short-wavelength microchannels
induced transverse vortices that consumed additional mechanical en­
ergy and increased the flow resistance. Fig. 6 shows that ΔP of wavy
microchannels were significantly higher than that of the smooth
microchannel at high Reynolds number. This was because the increase
in Reynolds number resulted in the increase of vortice, which increased
the flow resistance. When the Reynolds number was lower than 693, the
ΔP values of MCH-41, MCH-05, and MCH-14 were close to each other. In
addition, the ΔP values of the above three types of wavy microchannels
were lower than that of the smooth microchannel. It was indicated that
the long wavy microchannel had a characteristic of low flowing resis­
tance at low Reynolds number. However, when the Reynolds number
was greater than 693, the ΔP value of the MCH-41 was dramatically
Fig. 6. Pressure drop as a function of Reynolds number for microchannels with
different types.
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International Journal of Thermal Sciences 152 (2020) 106320
increased, which was higher than that of MCH-14, MCH-05, and MCH-
00.
4.2. Effects of wave types on heat transfer performance
Fig. 7 shows the heat performance as a function of the Reynolds
number for microchannels with different types. As can be seen in Fig. 7
(a), the Nu value of the wavy microchannel was significantly higher than
that of the smooth microchannel at the same Re value, which indicated
that the heat transfer performance of the wavy microchannel was better
than that of the smooth microchannel. The reason for this was that the
presence of wavy grooves enhanced the mixing of hot and cold fluids in
the microchannel by the redevelopment of the boundary layer near the
wavy groove, which expanded the heat transfer area and increased the
heat transfer time. For example, the average Nu value of MCH-02.5 was
1.68 times greater than that of the MCH-00 at Reynolds number less than
600. It can also be seen that the Nu value of MCH-41 was 12.6% higher
than that of MCH-14, and the enhancement of heat transfer of MCH-41
was more noticeable at Nu values greater than 693. It could be attributed
to the dominance of the divergent structures in the MCH-41 micro­
channel and the tendency of the fluid to reflux at high Reynolds number
and thus, promoting hot and cold convection. However, the enhance­
ment of heat transfer also increased the pressure drop. For example,
when Reynolds number was greater than 693, the pressure drop of MCH-
41 rapidly increased.
Microchannel heat sinks with low flow resistance and high heat
transfer efficiency have high demands in engineering applications. As
mentioned before, the wavy grooves enhanced the heat transfer of the
microchannel, but also increased the flow resistance. A comprehensive
evaluation of the performance of wavy microchannels was required. The
comprehensive factor of the heat transfer performance, known as per­
formance evaluation criteria (PEC), is defined as [33].
Nu=Nu0
PEC ¼ 1= (13)
ðf =f0 Þ 3
where Nu0 and f0 are the average Nusselt number and friction factor of
the rectangular microchannel, respectively. A PEC value greater than 1.0
indicates that the heat transfer performance of the microchannel heat
sink is better than that of the smooth one. Otherwise, the heat transfer
performance of the structure is worse or equal to that of the smooth one.
Fig. 7(d) shows the PEC values as a function of the Reynolds number for
wavy microchannels with different types. As can be seen in Fig. 7(d), the
PEC values of wavy microchannels with different types were all greater
than 1.0 and their maximum value was 1.9, which indicated that the
wave grooves were important in the improvement of the thermal per­
formance of the microchannel. All PEC values of MCH-41, MCH-14, and
MCH-05 increased with the increase in Re values, and the PEC of MCH-
41 was higher than that of MCH-14. For short-wavelength
D. Yuan et al.
Fig. 7. Heat transfer performance of microchannels with different types (a) Nusselt number Nu as a function of Reynolds number Re, (b) Nu/Nu0 as a function of Re,
(c) f/f0 as a function of Re, (d) performance evaluation criteria, PEC, as a function of Re.
microchannels, the increase in Nu value of MCH-01 and MCH-02.5 was
only dominant at low Re values, and the PEC decreased with the increase
in Re. This was because the increase in the pressure drop was larger than
that of the heat transfer coefficient at high Re values. However, the in­
crease in Nu of long-wavelength microchannels with wavelengths of 5.0
mm was prevalent in the entire range of Reynolds number as the PEC
were all greater than 1.0. It can also be seen that the MCH-41 exhibited
superior heat transfer performance than that of the MCH-05 and MCH-
14, especially at higher Re values. This could be attributed that with
the increase in the Re value, the liquid refluxed in the MCH-41 micro­
channel, which promoted the mixing of hot and cold fluids. The increase
in the Nu value was significantly higher than that of pressure drop; thus,
the PEC of MCH-41 increased sharply in the high Re region. However,
the growing trend of the PEC values of MCH-05 and MCH-14 decreased
at high Re values. For MCH14, it can be seen from Fig. 7(b) and (c) that
with the increase of Re, f/f0 and Nu/Nu0 increased first and then
decreased. Similar trend was found in PEC of MCH-14 at Re ¼ 561.
According to equation (13), the reason for the PEC extreme value was
that with the increase of Reynolds number, the increment in friction
resistance and heat transfer performance showed little difference. It also
indicated that it was not feasible to enhance the heat transfer perfor­
mance of long-wavelength wavy microchannels by only increasing the
flow rate.
4.3. Flow characteristic
Fig. 8 shows the simulated streamlines of three types of wavy
microchannels at Re ¼ 693. Fig. 8(a)–8(c) show views perpendicular to
the inlet surface. As can be seen in Fig. 8(a), the streamline of MCH-41
spiraled along the flow direction and it was divided into two
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International Journal of Thermal Sciences 152 (2020) 106320
longitudinal vortices. The streamline of MCH-41 moved from the bottom
to the top of the microchannel, because a relatively low-pressure zone
developed due to a larger flow rate in the middle of the microchannel,
and the liquid at the bottom was “sucked” up. This indicated that the two
longitudinal vortices in the flow field of MCH-41 resulted in the flushing
and thinning of the boundary layer, which resulted in a more uniform
velocity distribution of the entire flow field. In contrast with MCH-41, no
obvious longitudinal vortices could be found in MCH-05 and MCH-14, as
shown in Fig. 8(b) and (c). In addition, it can also be seen that the
boundary layer of MCH-41 was thinner than that of MCH-05 and MCH-
14, the velocity was more uniform, and the velocity gradient was lower
of MCH-41 than that of the MCH-05 and MCH-14. Compared with the
other microchannels shown in Fig. 8(c) and (b), it can be seen that MCH-
14 formed a denser trapping zone at the bottom of the microchannel,
which gone against the mass and heat transfer.
Fig. 8(d) shows the streamline of MCH-41, with the viewing direction
and the position of the wavy units shown in Fig. 8(a)–8(c) indicated as
well. Fig. 8(e) shows a magnified image of the streamline of the sixth and
seventh wavy units of MCH-41. As can be seen clearly, the liquid was not
stuck in the wavy groove but sucked to the top of the microchannel. This
“sucking” of the liquid from the wavy cavity to the top resulted in the
flowing of the hot fluid near the heating surface to the cold fluid on the
top surface, that generated a flow in the direction of the temperature
gradient. It was known from synergetic theory [34,35] that this flow
efficiently promoted convection heat transfer. Fig. 8(f) shows that the
fluid was trapped in the wavy groove of MCH-14 and formed transverse
vortices that were unfavorable for the mass transfer. It was difficult to
eliminate transverse vortices in the groove in time, which resulted in the
concentration of local heat and decreased of heat transfer effect.
Therefore, the heat transfer performance of the MCH-14 was worse than
D. Yuan et al. International Journal of Thermal Sciences 152 (2020) 106320

Fig. 8. Streamlines of microchannels with different types at Re ¼ 693 by numerical simulation. Streamlines observed from vertical inlet of (a) MCH-41, (b) MCH-05,
and (c) MCH-14. (d) The observation direction and positions of wavy units. Magnified images of the sixth and seventh wavy units of (e) MCH-41 and (f) MCH-14.

that of MCH-05. Therefore, MCH-41 was more effective than MCH-05 4.4. Flow mechanism
and MCH-14 in heat transfer. The flow analysis based on the simula­
tion was consistent with the thermal analysis of the microchannel. Fig. 9(a)-(f) show the flow behavior in a non-uniform wavy unit of
the MCH-41 microchannel captured by a high-speed camera. In Fig. 9

Fig. 9. Flow behavior photographs of a divergent wavy unit in the MCH-41 microchannel of a visualization experiment captured by a high-speed camera.

7
D. Yuan et al.
(a), the stained fluid near the wavy boundary was indicated by a white
line and the unstained fluid was indicated by a white circle. It can be
seen in Fig. 9(b) that the stained fluid moved rapidly from the wavy
boundary to the opposite straight boundary in a time of 1 ms.
Simultaneously, is was found that impinging jet flow was formed in
the convergent cavity segment. It is known that impinging jet flow has a
good effect on enhanced heat transfer. This observation was consistent
with the conclusion based on the simulation results shown in Fig. 9(a).
The long divergent chamber of MCH-41 “sucked” the liquid and pre­
vented it from staying in the wavy groove. As can be seen from Fig. 9(c),
the stained liquid was continuously approaching the straight boundary;
however, this process took longer time. Until t ¼ 10 ms, the stained
liquid of divergent cavity was completely mixed with the liquid at the
straight boundary. Meanwhile, more and more liquid flowed out of the
convergent cavity, compared with initial time, as shown in Fig. 9(d). At
t ¼ 11 ms, unstained fluid appeared in the middle of the wavy unit again,
as shown in Fig. 9(e). The area of the unstained fluid continuously
increased until t ¼ 13 ms, and the stained fluid also flowed out of the
convergent cavity completely, as shown in Fig. 9(e). This indicated that
cold fluid from the inlet was supplied quickly into the microchannel. In
addition, it can be observed that the flow behavior at t ¼ 13 ms was
similar to that at the initial time t ¼ 0. The pulsating characteristics of
the fluid, the “upward–discharge–filling–downward” flow, began to be
repeated. As a result, one period of cycle of the liquid movement from
the wave boundary to the opposite straight boundary was T ¼ 13 ms,
and T was also the period of transferring the heat from the hot zone to
the cold zone. The smaller the value of T was, the more efficient the mass
and heat transfer. At the same time, the fluid of the divergent wavy
groove alternately fluctuated along the direction of the temperature
gradient. The fluid on the thermal boundary was always transferred to
the cold boundary to increase the temperature of the cold liquid.
Simultaneously, when the thermal fluid reached the middle zone of the
microchannel and left it, the cold fluid flowing from the inlet filled the
microchannel quickly and moved towards the thermal boundary.
Therefore, the cold fluid was forced to be heated, which resulted in an
enhancement of mass and heat transfer in the divergent chamber.
In the visualization experiment, it was found that the fluid left the
divergent cavity very quickly, which indicated that the streamlines of
the MCH-41 structure was not trapped in the cave. It was in agreement
with the visualization experiment that simulation results of Fig. 8(e) and
(f) also found there were no obvious transverse vortices in the wave
groove of MCH-41. Several related research results also showed that the
transverse vortices restricted the improvement of the overall heat
transfer performance. Transverse vortices deteriorated local heat
transfer, while a streamlined structure facilitated the improvement of
the heat transfer performances.
4.5. Thermal resistance
Local overheat can easily reduce the lifespan of electronic devices.
Therefore, it is necessary to improve the uniformity of the temperature
of the heating surface, which can be achieved by reducing the thermal
resistance of the microchannel heat sink. The total thermal resistance of
microchannel heat sinks can be defined as:
Tw;max Tin
RT ¼ (14)
qAw
where RT is the total thermal resistance in unit of K/W, Aw is the heating
area in unit of m2, and Tw,max is the maximum temperature of the
heating area, in unit of K.
Fig. 10 shows the thermal resistance, RT, of microchannels with
different types as a function of the Reynolds number. It can be seen in
Fig. 10 that the RT value decreased with the increase in the Re value. The
decrease of the RT value at low Re values was faster than that in the high
Re regime. The RT values of the wavy microchannels were significantly
8
International Journal of Thermal Sciences 152 (2020) 106320
Fig. 10. Thermal resistance RT of microchannels with different types as a
function of Reynolds number Re.
lower than that of the smooth microchannel MCH-00 at the same Re. The
thermal resistances of microchannels with wavelengths of 1.0 mm and
2.5 mm were lower than that of microchannels with 5.0 mm wave­
lengths, including the uniform and non-uniform microchannels. The RT
value of wavy microchannel MCH-41 was lower than that of MCH-14,
and the RT of MCH-14 was lower than that of MCH-05. For example,
the RT value of MCH-41 was 11.2% lower than that of the MCH-14.
Therefore, the non-uniform wavy microchannel had a more uniform
temperature distribution than that of the uniform wavy microchannel.
The reason for this was that the pulsating flow transferred the heat from
the heating surface to the top of the microchannel and thus preventing
local overheating and resulting in a lower thermal resistance.
Fig. 11 shows the wall temperature Tw as a function of Reynolds
number Re of smooth and wavy microchannels. The Tw value of MCH-41
was the lowest, followed by MCH-14 and MCH-05, and the Tw value of
smooth microchannel was the highest. In addition, the temperature
distribution of MCH-41 was the most uniform, with the lowest temper­
ature gradient. This could be explained based on the analysis of the flow
characteristic and mechanism. As the MCH-41 was dominated by lon­
gitudinal vortices, the forward spiraling movement of the liquid swept
across the boundary layers and transferred the heat from the heating
surface to the relatively lower temperature surface. However, the liquid
in MCH-14 formed local transverse vortices in the wavy groove. Local
transverse vortices faced difficultly flowing to other zones of the
microchannel and therefore the heat could not be removed, which
resulted in local overheating.
Fig. 12(a) shows the average wall temperature Tw,m of the different
wavy heating surfaces as a function of Reynolds number Re. The Tw,m
value decreased with the increase in Re. The Tw,m value at low Re
decreased faster than that at high Re values. In addition, the Tw,m value
of MCH-41 was lower than that of MCH-14, and the Tw,m values of MCH-
01 and MCH-02.5 were lower than that of the microchannel with
wavelength of 5.0 mm. Fig. 12 (b) shows the Tw,z values of MCH-41 and
MCH-14 along the flow direction at Re ¼ 434. The Tw,z value of MCH-41
was noticeably lower than that of MCH-14 along the flowing direction,
which was consistent with the result of wall temperature analysis shown
in Fig. 12(a). This further proved that MCH-41 had a better temperature
uniformity than that of MCH-14. In the MCH-41microchannel, it was
easier to prevent local overheating and to achieve better thermal per­
formance. The results showed that the wall temperature uniformity of
the wavy microchannel was better than that of the smooth micro­
channel, and the microchannel with long divergent wave was better
than that of with long convergent wave.
D. Yuan et al. International Journal of Thermal Sciences 152 (2020) 106320

Fig. 11. Temperature profiles of the sixth and seventh wavy units of the smooth and wavy microchannels at Re ¼ 434.

Fig. 12. Wall temperature analysis: (a) average wall temperatures of microchannels with different types as a function of Reynolds number and (b) wall temperature
of the heating surface of MCH-41 and MCH-14 along the flowing direction at Re ¼ 434.

4.6. Entropy analysis �

Ns;a ¼ Sgen Sgen;0 (19)
The convection heat transfer process of microchannels includes the
where Sgen,0 is the entropy generation rate of the smooth microchannel,
variation of temperature and pressure, which results in the entropy
if the value of Ns,a is less than 1.0, the microchannel has a better thermal
generation of the system. The smaller the entropy is, the more efficient
performance than the smooth one due to a reduction for irreversibility in
the energy usage. Several researchers have applied the entropy principle
the fluid flow and heat transfer process.
to evaluate the performance of the microchannel heat sink [36–39]. The
Fig. 13 shows the non-dimensional entropy of microchannels with
expression of the total entropy generation (Sgen) can be written as [40]:
different types as a function of Reynolds number. As can be seen in
Sgen ¼ Sgen;F þ Sgen;T (15) Fig. 13(a), (b) and 13(c), the S*gen,T value and total entropy S*gen
decreased with the increase in Re. However, the S*gen,F value increased
Sgen;F ¼
mΔP
_
(16) with the increase in Re, which indicated that the S*gen,T value strongly
ρm Ta determined the S*gen value at Re values in the range of 177–822. This
was due to the simultaneous increase in the pressure drop and decrease
Sgen;T ¼
QðTw;m Ta Þ
(17) in the thermal resistance with the increase in the Re. As can be seen in
Tw;m Ta Fig. 13(c), the S*gen,T value of the wavy microchannels were significantly
lower than that of the smooth microchannel under the same Re, which
where Sgen,F and Sgen,T are the entropy generation due to fluid flow and indicated that the wave grooves improved the heat transfer performance
heat transfer. mis
_ the mass flow rate of fluid. Ta is the ambient tem­
of the microchannel heat sink, and reduced the loss of useful energy
perature and presumed to be Tin in this present work. The nondimen­ during heat transfer. Furthermore, as can be seen in Fig. 13(c), the S*gen
sional entropy generation rate (S*gen,T; S*gen,F and S*gen) were calculated value of the wavy microchannel MCH-41 was lower than that of the
as equation (18), MCH-14, which indicated that the energy utilization of MCH-41 was
Sgen;T Sgen;F * Sgen;T þ Sgen;F more efficient than that of MCH-14, especially in the high Re regime.
S*gen;T ¼ ; S*gen;F ¼ ; Sgen ¼ (18)
mc
_ p mc
_ p mc
_ p Fig. 13(d) shows the variation of the entropy generation number Ns,a
with the Reynolds number. It can be obviously observed that the Ns,a
The entropy generation number (Ns,a) is introduced to compare the values were less than 1.0 for all wavy microchannels at whole Reynolds
irreversibility of the wavy microchannels with the plain microchannel. number. The Ns,a value of MCH-41 was lower than that of the MCH-14
This parameter is defined as which indicated that the irreversible loss in the flow and heat transfer

9
D. Yuan et al.
Fig. 13. Non-dimensional entropy generation analysis of microchannels with different types as a function of Reynolds number. (a) heat transfer entropy generation
S*gen,T, (b) fluid flow entropy generation S*gen,F, (c) total entropy generation S*gen, (d) entropy generation number Ns,a.
process of MCH-41 was less than that of MCH-14, thereby MCH-41 could
more effectively utilize thermal energy. The reason for this was that the
pulsating characteristics of the fluid in MCH-41 enhanced the heat
transfer more easily, while the fluid of MCH-14 was easily trapped in the
wavy groove, resulting in local hot spots and the deterioration of heat
transfer. Therefore, the temperature entropy and total entropy of MCH-
41 were lower than those of MCH-41.
5. Conclusions
In this study, non-uniform wavy microchannels were designed and
the heat and mass transfer performance of the wavy microchannels were
numerically and experimentally investigated. The main conclusions are
summarized as follows:
(1) The divergent wavy cavity was crucial in the mass and heat
transfer processes. A mass and heat transfer mechanism was
proposed based on the combination of the simulation analysis
and visualization experimental results. The impinging jet flow
and fluctuation of the fluid in the divergent wavy cavity resulted
in enhanced mixing and improvement in the heat and cold
convection.
(2) Although the heat transfer effects of the short-wavelength
microchannels were better than the long-wavelength ones, the
pressure drop also increased in this case. In addition, it was found
that the pressure drop of long-wavelength microchannels were
lower than that of the smooth microchannel (MCH-00)with
10
International Journal of Thermal Sciences 152 (2020) 106320
wavelength of 5.0 mm, amplitude of 0.5 mm, and hydraulic
diameter of 1.0 mm. Therefore, the long wavy microchannel had
a lower flowing resistance. However, when the Reynolds number
was higher than 693, the pressure drop of the divergent wavy
microchannel (MCH-41) was remarkably increased.
(3) The thermal resistance, RT, and average wall temperature, Tw,m,
decreased with the increase in the Reynolds number. The RT, Tw,m
and Tw,z values of MCH-41 were lower than that of the conver­
gent (MCH-41) and uniform (MCH-05) microchannels at Rey­
nolds number in the range of 177–822. On average, the RT value
of MCH-41 was 11.8% lower than that of MCH-14 and 21.3%
lower than that of the MCH-00. The temperature uniformity of
MCH-41 was better than that of the MCH-14, MCH-05, and MCH-
00.
(4) The Nu and PEC of wavy microchannels with wavelength of 5.0
mm increased with the increase in the Reynolds number. Both the
Nu and PEC of MCH-41 were larger than that of MCH-41 and
MCH-05, respectively. The divergent wavy cavity effectively
enhanced the mass and heat transfer performance.
(5) The energy efficiency of microchannel heat sink was evaluated
based on the principle of entropy generation Ns,a. The Ns,a values
of wavy microchannels were all lower than 1.0, and the Ns,a value
of MCH-41 was less than that of MCH-14 and MCH-05.
With respect to PEC, RT, Tw, and Ns,a parameters, the heat transfer
performance of the wavy microchannel was better than that of the
smooth one. In addition, the performance of MCH-41 was better than
D. Yuan et al.
that of MCH-14 and MCH-05. It is concluded that the designed MCH-41
can efficiently improve the heat and mass transfer performance and
temperature uniformity of microchannel heat sinks, which maybe a
good application in the heating chamber for hydrogen production or fuel
cell bipolar plate.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China
(No. 51922092), Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province of
China (No. 2017J06015) and the Fundamental Research Funds for
Central Universities, Xiamen University (No. 20720190031 and
20720190129). In addition, the support from Open Fund of the Key
Laboratory for Metallurgical Equipment and Control of Ministry of Ed­
ucation in Wuhan University of Science and Technology (No.
MECOF2019A01) is also acknowledged.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.ijthermalsci.2020.106320.
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