Heat and Mass Transfer (2018) 54:3317–3328

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-018-2375-6

ORIGINAL

Optimal design of wavy microchannel and comparison of heat transfer

characteristics with zigzag and straight geometries
Zekeriya Parlak 1

Received: 10 November 2017 / Accepted: 4 May 2018 / Published online: 10 May 2018
# Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2018

Abstract
Design concept of microchannel heat exchangers is going to plan with new flow microchannel configuration to
reduce the pressure drop and improve heat transfer performance. The study aims to find optimum microchannel
design providing the best performance of flow and heat transfer characterization in a heat sink. Therefore, three
different types of microchannels in which water is used, straight, wavy and zigzag have been studied. The optimi-
zation operation has been performed to find optimum geometry with ANSYS’s Response Surface Optimization Tool.
Primarily, CFD analysis has been performed by parameterizing a wavy microchannel geometry. Optimum wavy
microchannel design has been obtained by the response surface created for the range of velocity from 0.5 to 5,
the range of amplitude from 0.06 to 0.3, the range of microchannel height from 0.1 to 0.2, the range of
microchannel width from 0.1 to 0.2 and range of sinusoidal wave length from 0.25 to 2.0. All simulations have
been performed in the laminar regime for Reynolds number ranging from 100 to 900. Results showed that the
Reynolds number range corresponding to the industrial pressure drop limits is between 100 and 400. Nu values
obtained in this range for optimum wavy geometry were found at a rate of 10% higher than those of the zigzag
channel and 40% higher than those of the straight channels. In addition, when the pressure values of the straight
channel did not exceed 10 kPa, the inlet pressure data calculated for zigzag and wavy channel data almost coincided
with each other.

Nomenclature Nu Nusselt number.

a Amplitude [m]. p Pressure [N/m2].
b Microchannel height [m]. q Heat flux [W/m2].
c Microchannel width [m]. Re Reynolds number.
cp Specific heat [kj/kgK]. S Wave length [m].
dp/dx Pressure gradient [kg/m2 s2]. t Time [s].
Dh Hydraulic diameter [m]. T Temperature [K].
e Internal energy [J/kg]. U Velocity [m/s].
f Friction factor. δ Identity matrix.
h Heat transfer coefficient [W/(m2 K]. μ Dynamic viscosity [kg/(m s)].
k Thermal conductivity [W/mK]. ρ Density [kg/m3].
L Microchannel length [m]. τ Stress tensor [N/m2].

* Zekeriya Parlak Subscript

zparlak@sakarya.edu.tr f (Fluid)
m (Mean)
1
Faculty of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, s (Surface)
Sakarya University, Esentepe Campus, 54187 Serdivan, Sakarya,
w (Wall)
Turkey
3318
1 Introduction
Microscale single-phase heat transfer is widely used in the
thermal control of electronic devices, Micro-Electro-
Mechanical Systems (MEMS), micro-satellites, and other mi-
cro fluidic devices (MFD). Convective heat transfer in
microchannels is a very effective method for the thermal con-
trol of microelectronic devices because of the high surface
area to volume ratio in these channels [1]. The study of fluid
behavior in devices with micro-scale geometries has received
many interests and many authors have studied numerically
and experimentally. Experiments have been done in straight
circular [2–10], rectangular [11–17], trapezoidal [18 and 19]
and triangular cross-section [18] by many authors. They have
reported major frictional losses occured in single phase liquid
flow through the microchannels depend on the flow velocity,
channel length, hydraulic diameter, and whether the flow is
laminar or turbulent. This is an obstacle to the heat transfer
applications. Accordingly, many compact heat exchangers are
going to design with new flow microchannel configuration to
reduce the pressure drop and improve heat transfer
performance instead of straight microchannel arrangement.
There are two basic methods to improve the rate of heat
transfer: one of them is to increase the convection heat transfer
coefficient or the other is to increase the surface area. Wavy
walls (or corrugated surfaces) extend the heat transfer surface
and lead to better heat transfer performance between heat
dissipators and working fluid. The wavy microchannels are
easy to fabricate and relatively economical means of improv-
ing heat transfer passively due to secondary flows due period-
ic boundary layer modulation, separation or disruption.
A number of researchers have studied on various channel
geometries such as wavy (S or sinusoidal) or zigzag type to
enhance the thermal and hydraulic performance of the heat
exchangers. Ma et al. [19] designed a micro heat sink used
in cooling of a high power electronic chip for flow rates rang-
ing from 18.8 to 72 ml/min. The heat sink included 10 chan-
nels, which has the width of 0.1–0.2 mm and depth of 0.2 mm.
Their results showed the zigzag channel enhanced heat trans-
fer albeit with great pressure drop penalty. An experimental
investigation of the hydrodynamic and heat transfer character-
istics of water flowing through tortuous microchannels for
Reynolds numbers ranging from 50 to 900 has been carried
out by Dai et al. [20]. The microchannels had semi-circular
cross-sections (diameter 2 mm) and follow zigzag or
Table 1 Thermal
properties of fluid Thermal Properties [30]
Thermal conductivity [W/mK]
Specific heat [kj/kgK]
Viscosity [kg/(m s)]
Density [kg/m3]
Heat Mass Transfer (2018) 54:3317–3328
sinusoidal pathways consisting of at least five repeating units.
Experimental results showed that significant heat transfer en-
hancement was achieved in wavy channels compared with the
equivalent straight channel, although an increased pressure-
drop penalty was also observed. Rostami et al. [21] have stud-
ied conjugate heat transfer in a wavy walls microchannel with
different geometrical parameters numerically to find the opti-
mum geometry with the maximum Nusselt number. A con-
stant heat flux boundary condition was applied to the bottom
wall of the micro-device and water used as a working fluid.
Their numerical results showed that the Nusselt number in the
wavy microchannel was more than that for flat walls
microchannels. Sui et al. [22] have performed CFD simula-
tions of laminar liquid-water flow and heat transfer in three-
dimensional wavy microchannels with a rectangular cross un-
der constant wall heat flux (H2), constant wall temperature (T)
and conjugate conditions. Flow field analysis showed that
Dean vortices developed when liquid coolant flowed through
the wavy microchannels. Also, an experimental investigation
has been conducted on the flow friction and heat transfer in
sinusoidal microchannels with rectangular cross sections by
Sui et al. [23]. The microchannels were consist of ten identical
wavy units with the average width of about 205 μm, depth of
404 μm, the wave length of 2.5 mm and wavy amplitude of 0–
259 μm. Deionized water was used as the working fluid and
the Reynolds numbers considered ranging from about 300 to
800. Their experimental results showed that the heat transfer
performance of the present wavy microchannels was much
better than that of straight baseline microchannels; at the same
time, the pressure drop penalty of the present wavy
microchannels could be much smaller than the heat transfer
enhancement. The simultaneously developing unsteady lami-
nar fluid flow and heat transfer inside a two-dimensional wavy
microchannel, due to sinusoidally varying velocity compo-
nent at inlet has been numerically investigated by Nandi and
Chattopadhyay [24]. The flow was both thermally and hydro-
dynamically developing while the channel walls were kept at
a uniform temperature. The simulation was performed in the
laminar regime for Prandtl number 7 and Reynolds number
ranging from 0.1 to 100. Their results showed that imposed
sinusoidal velocity at inlet can provide improved heat transfer
performance at different amplitude (0.2, 0.5, 0.8) and frequen-
cy (1, 5, 10). Mohammed et al. [25] have numerically inves-
tigated the heat transfer and water flow characteristics in wavy
aluminum microchannel heat sink with the rectangular cross-
Equations
k = [−2 ∙ 10−8T3 − 8 ∙ 10−6T2 + 2.1 ∙ 10−3T + 5.59 ∙ 10−1]
cp = [5 ∙ 10−6T4 − 1.1 ∙ 10−3T3 + 9.18 ∙ 10 −2 2

T − 3.2322T + 4217.9]
μ ¼ 1:79⋅10−3 e −2:1−4:45ðTÞ
273
þ6:55ðTÞ
273 2
ρ = [2 ∙ 10 T − 6.7 ∙ 10 T + 4.01 ∙ 10−2T + 999.91]
−5 3 −3 2
Heat Mass Transfer (2018) 54:3317–3328
Fig. 1 Model 1- Straight
microchannel model, Model 2-
Wavy microchannel model,
Model 3- Zigzag microchannel
model
section with various wavy amplitudes ranged from 125 to
500 μm. The effect of using a wavy flow channel on the
microchannel heat sink thermal performance, the pressure
drop, the friction factor, and wall shear stress were reported.
They found that the heat transfer performance of the wavy
microchannels was much better than the straight
microchannels with the same cross-section. An experimental
investigation of the hydrodynamic and heat transfer character-
istics of water flow through tortuous microchannels have
semi-circular cross-sections (diameter 2 mm) has been done
by Dai et al. [20]. Also the study, conjugate heat transfer
simulations in a straight channel were carried out to under-
stand the complex thermal behaviors present in the current
experimental design and to validate the experimental ap-
proaches. Experimental results showed that significant heat
transfer enhancement was achieved in wavy channels com-
pared with the equivalent straight channel, although an in-
creased pressure-drop penalty was also observed. Fabri [26]
has investigated the heat transfer in a channel composed of a
smooth and a corrugated wall under laminar flow conditions.
Fig. 2 Grid arrangement of wavy
microchannel
3319
The velocity and temperature distributions were determined
with the help of a finite element model. The heat transfer
performance of the corrugated wall channel was compared
with that of a smooth wall duct. Chu et al. [27] have investi-
gated the behavior of water through curved rectangular
microchannels with different aspect ratios and curvature radi-
us for Re numbers ranging from 10 to 600, experimentally.
The experimental data were compared with the results obtain-
ed from numerical analyses and the available correlations. The
experimental results indicated that classical Navier–Stokes
equations were applicable for the incompressible laminar flow
passing through curved microchannels. Geometrical parame-
ters, such as aspect ratio and curvature ratio, were found to
have important effects on fluid flowing through curved rect-
angular microchannels.
Although experimental method is the most scientific ap-
proach, there are many restrictions such as scaling problems,
measurement difficulties and operating costs. On the other
hand, numerical methods (CFD) allow very complex prob-
lems to apply physical laws without Reynolds number
3320 Heat Mass Transfer (2018) 54:3317–3328

Table 2 Node and Table 3 The boundary

element numbers of Models Nodes Elements condisitons U inlet [m/s] 0.5 to 5
models T inlet [K] 295
Straight 496,000 572,479
P outlet [Pa] 0
Zigzag 631,301 1,707,422
Constant Heat Flux [W/m2] 2.106
Wave 529,806 1,425,752

Continuity equation:
limitations. The literature survey have showed that numerous
experimental studies [2–18, 28, 29] were conducted on fluid ∂ρ
þ ∇ ðρU Þ ¼ 0 ð1Þ
flow and heat transfer through the straight microchannels. ∂t
Whereas, most of the studies [19–27] mainly focused on de-
Navier–Stokes equations (momentum equations):
signing with new flow microchannel configuration to improve
heat transfer performance instead of straight microchannel ∂ðρU Þ
arrangement. In addition, scientists showed that the heat trans- þ ∇ ðρU  U Þ ¼ −∇ p þ ∇ τ ð2Þ
∂t
fer capacity of the heat exchanger was also very much depen-
dent on its geometry. Similarly, there are few studies that deal where the stress tensor, τ, is related to the strain rate by
with the optimization of geometric parameters effect on ther-  
2
mal and hydraulic performance of wavy microchannels. The τ ¼ μ ∇ U þ ð∇ U ÞT − δ∇ U ð3Þ
3
main goal of the present study is to find optimum
microchannel geometry providing best performance of flow where the transpose of a matrix is defined by the operator T
and heat transfer characterization in a heat sink. Therefore, and δ is the identity matrix.
three different types of microchannels with the same hydraulic The thermal energy equation, which is suitable for low-
diameters namely, straigth, wavy and zigzag have been stud- speed flows, can be useful for both liquids and gases in
ied. All simulations have been performed in the laminar re- ANSYS CFX.
gime for Reynolds number ranging from 100 to 900
within industrially acceptable pressure drop limits and ∂ðρeÞ
þ ∇ ðρUeÞ ¼ ∇ ðk∇ T Þ−p∇ U þ τ : ∇ U ð4Þ
water is used as a working fluid. The optimization op- ∂t
eration with ANSYS Response Surface Optimization
The term τ : ∇U is always positive and is called the viscous
Tool by utilizing CFD has been performed to find op-
dissipation. e is internal energy and k is thermal conductivity.
timum microchannel geometry.
Where p, T, U represents the pressure, temperature and veloc-
ity, which consinst of three directions depending on coordi-
nate system, respectively.
In addition, thermal conductivity, specific heat, viscosity
2 Theoretical analysis and density of fluid are determined by using the equations in
term of temperature in Table 1 in the study.
The 3D numerical simulations of the flow and heat transfer in
the smooth, zigzag and sinusoidal microchannels were carried
2.1 Data reduction
out by CFX tool in ANSYS V17.2. For an incompressible and
steady state, homogeneous and Newtonian fluid with effect of
The Reynolds number is evaluated by
viscous heating flow through microchannels, the mass conti-
nuity, momentum and energy equations can respectively be ρU m Dh
Re ¼ ð5Þ
written as follows; μ

Fig. 3 Boundary conditions

Heat Mass Transfer (2018) 54:3317–3328 3321

Table 4 Lower and upper limits of the input parameters 2.2 Geometry definition and boundary conditions
Input parameter Lower Limit Upper Limit
Figure 1 shows a view of three microchannel model used in
Velocity [m/s] 0.5 5 the CFD simulations (note that the figure is not drawn to
Amplitude, a, [mm] 0.06 0.3 scale). All microchannels have the same rectangular cross-
Microchannel height b, [mm] 0.1 0.2 section and same length. Also, the other geometric details
Microchannel width, c, [mm] 0.1 0.2 are shown in Fig. 1.
Wave length, s, [mm] 0.25 2 a, b, c, L and s represent amplitude, microchannel height,
microchannel width, microchannel length and wave length,
respectively, in Fig. 1. The wavy microchannels is drawn ac-
where Dh is hydraulic diameter of the microchannel and μ is cording to the following equations;
dynamic viscosity. In the CFD analysis, average temperatures  x
of fluid at eight different cross section from the entrance of y ¼ acos 2π x ¼ 0∼s ð10Þ
microchannel and side wall temperature values were read to s
calculate heat transfer coefficient. Local heat transfer coeffi- Geometries were drawn parametrically in SolidWorks de-
cient is defined as the following expression: sign program, and this geometry with specified parameters
qs ðxÞ were moved to ANSYS program. ANSYS CFX tool was used
hð x Þ ¼ ð6Þ to simulate interactions of fluid dynamics and heat transfer,
T w;m −T f ;m
which enables to test in the virtual environment before
The average heat transfer coeeficient, Nusselt number and manufacturing prototypes of products. Furthermore, deter-
the friction factor are defined as; mining and improving weak points, computing life and fore-
1 seeing probable problems are possible by 3D simulations in
hm ¼ ∫hðxÞdx ð7Þ the virtual environment [27].
L
hm Dh The important parameters of the microchannel model were
Num ¼ ð8Þ identified as a, b, c and number of waves, s, in SolidWorks.
kf
The lengths of all microchannels are identical and taken as
dp
− Dh constant. The optimum values of a, b, c and s for only wavy
f ¼ dx ð9Þ channels has been studied. More detailed information is given
1
ρU 2m in the next section. Before setup and solution steps,
2

Fig. 4 Inlet Pressure and Outlet 340 8000

Temperature variations with wave
length and amplitude for Model 2 330 6000
P inlet [Kpa]
T outlet [K]

320
4000
310
300 2000

290 0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
s: Wave length [mm] s: Wave length [mm]

(a) (b)
337
80
70
336 60
T outlet [K]

P inlet [KPa]

50
335 40
30
334 20
10
333 0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4
a: Amplitude [mm] a: Amplitude [mm]

(c) (d)
3322 Heat Mass Transfer (2018) 54:3317–3328

Fig. 5 Inlet Pressure and outlet 340 40

temperature variations
microchannel width and height 338 30

P inlet [kPa]
T outlet [K]
for Model 2
335 20

333 10

330 0
0.05 0.15 0.25 0.05 0.15 0.25
c: Microchannel width [mm] c: Microchannel width [mm]

(a) (b)
350 30
25
340
T outlet [K]

P inlet [Pa]
20
330 15
10
320
5
310 0
0.05 0.15 0.25 0.05 0.15 0.25
b: Microchannel height [mm] b: Microchannel height [mm]

(c) (d)

microchannel models were meshed using unstructured tetra-
hedral elements as shown in the Fig. 2 of the wavy
microchannel (model 2).
For three different microchannel geometries, grid indepen-
dent test was made only for highest Reynolds number by
changing element numbers between 36,480 to 1,800,568.
Outlet temperature and inlet pressure of flow were checked
for each analysis. When percentage error of results were less
than 4%, mesh densities was considered as the optimum mesh.
The node and element numbers of the microchannel models
analyzed by CFX can be seen in Table 2.
In CFD modeling, three dimensional, laminar, viscous, in-
compressible, single-phase Newtonian flow at steady state
through the rectangular cross section with constant wall temper-
ature conditions are considered. The flow was assumed to have
uniform velocity and temperature at the channel inlet.
Schematic of the microchannel with boundary conditions is
given in Fig. 3. The bottom wall in each model was subjected
to a constant heat flux boundary condition, while the top and
side walls were adiabatic conditions. Pressure outlet boundary
condition was applied as 0 Pa at the outlet. The boundary con-
ditions, which are inlet velocities range, constant heat flux, and
inlet temperature are given in Table 3.
Analyzes were carried out in a steady state to provide the
conditions after entering the flow regime as in the real case.
The thermal energy equation was utilized in the CFX includ-
ing the term viscous dissipation, which takes into account the
internal heating by viscosity in the fluid. The convergence
criterion was determined as 10−4 and all analyzes were
continued until this value. Thermal properties of the fluid
(density, viscosity, thermal conductivity and specific heat ca-
pacity) were taken variables as a function of temperature of
the fluid given in Table 1 in CFD analyzes. After the first
analysis, outlet temperature, heat transfer coefficient, inlet
pressure were determined as output parameters in the
ANSYS CFX-Post.
2.3 Optimization method
The optimization operation was performed to find the opti-
mum geometry for wavy microchannels with ANSYS’s
Response Surface Optimization Tool. Primarily, CFD analysis
was performed by parametrizing a wavy microchannel geom-
etry (Model 2). The response surface was created with the
input parameters and output parameters. The input parameters
were velocity, amplitude (a), microchannel height (b),
microchannel width (c), wave length (s). The parameters were
searched between lower and upper limits in the optimization
study as can be seen in Table 4. The output parameters are
Table 5 Optimal wavy
microchannel values Velocity [m/s] 1.0
Amplitude, a, [mm] 0.104
Microchannel height b, [mm] 0.121
Microchannel width, c, [mm] 0.189
Wave length, s, [mm] 1.013
Heat Mass Transfer (2018) 54:3317–3328
Fig. 6 Wavy and zigzag 0.1
microchannel profile
Amplitude [mm]
0
0 0.1
-0.1
inlet pressure and outlet temperature. The variation on the
output parameters caused by the change in the input parame-
ters caused by werw examined by means of the response sur-
face. These output parameters with changes in the amplitude
and the wave length are given in Fig. 4.
The outlet temperature equaled 297 K when the wave
length was 0.5, and it went up to 335 K when the wave length
was 1.0 (In Fig. 4a). Whereas at higher wave lengths the
temperature did not change much. The other output parameter
was inlet pressure and effect of wave length on pressure was
shown in Fig. 4b. Ma et al. [19] emphasized pressure drop
penalty getting high heat flux and acceptable pressure drop
limits of 40 kPa for industrially in their articles. In our study,
while the wave length was 0.25, the pressure was found to be
6.7 MPa which exceed the pressure limits of heat sink appli-
cations. When the wave length was 1.0, inlet pressures fell
below 50 kPa. Clearly, the wave length must be greater than
1.0 for the pressure drop to be smaller than the limit value.
Another parameter was amplitude (a) values changed from
0.06 to 0.3 in the optimization operation. The outlet tempera-
ture changed from 335.2 to 335.5 K when the amplitude
values changed. It can be said clearly, the effect of amplitude
on outlet temperature has not been much (In Fig. 4c). On the
other hand, pressure drop varied from 16 kPa to 70 kPa while
Fig. 7 Outlet temperature values 395
for a range of velocities 0.5 to
5 m/s for model 2
375
355
T outlet [K]
335
315
295
3323
Zigzag Wavy
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Wave length [mm]
amplitude values changed from 0.06 to 0.3. Pressure drop
values found were within the limits and its any value in these
ranges can be selected.
The increase in the width of the channel causes to increase
both the heat transfer surface and the flow cross-sectional area.
First, the increase in heat transfer surface is expected to rise the
outlet temperature. But the increase of the cross-sectional area
leads to a raise in the flow rate and for this reason, an insignif-
icant change has occurred in the outlet temperature (Fig. 5a).
On the other hand, an enhancement in the microchannel
height leads to an increase in the flow cross-section. But the
heat transfer surface area does not change. For this reason, as
the channel height increases, the flow rate rises and the outlet
temperature gradually decreases (Fig. 5c). As shown in Fig.
5b and d, the increase in width and height of the microchannel
provides the same effect in the direction of the drop of the
input pressure. The inlet pressure decreased from 34 kPa to
13 kPa, while the parameter values increased from 0.1 to 0.2.
The other parameter examined in the optimization study is
fluid velocity. The effect of velocity was described in the
CFD results section in the study.
The values of input parameters that provide the maximum
output temperature and minimum inlet pressure, were obtain-
ed in the optimization study. The optimal velocity, amplitude,
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
V [m/s]
3324
Fig. 8 Inlet pressure values for a
range of velocities 0.5 to 5 m/s for
model 2
P inlet [kPa]
height, width and wave length values for the wavy
microchannel were found as given in Table 5.
The most accurate way is to design zigzag and wavy chan-
nels with equal amplitude and wave length to compare with
eachother. The zigzag form of the microchannel having same
hydraulic diameter was designed based on the optimal ampli-
tude, height, width, wave lenght values. Geometrical values
overlapped by wavy microchannels were found for the zigzag
microchannel model with the help of a mathematical formula
as shown in Fig. 6.
3 CFD results
In the optimization process, the optimal wavy microchannel
geometry was obtained within specified parameters,
expressed in section 2.3. Afterwards, zigzag microchannel
Fig. 9 Axial velocity contours a
for wavy microchannel (model 2)
Heat Mass Transfer (2018) 54:3317–3328
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
V [m/s]
model that overlaps with the optimal wavy microchannel
and straight microchannel model have the same hydraulic
diameters were created. CFD results of all microchannel
models were obtained for inlet velocity the range from
0.5 m/s to 5 m/s, which corresponds to the Reynolds
number range from 100 to 900, approximately, and the
findings were compared with each other. Figures 7 and
8 show velocity effect on the outlet temperature and the
inlet pressure obtained from CFD for the optimal wavy
microchannel (model 2). As seen in Fig. 7 outlet temper-
ature of fluid decreases from 375 to 303 K as flow rate
increases. At lower velocities, the flow temperature is
higher when it takes longer to leave the microchannel
and it approaches almost to boiling temperature. This re-
sult shows that in single-phase flow and heat transfer ap-
plications, the flow velocity should not be lower than
0.5 m/s for these microchannel geometries.
Heat Mass Transfer (2018) 54:3317–3328
Fig. 10 Axial velocity contours a
for zigzag microchannel
(model 3)
It is seen that in Fig. 8 the inlet pressure increases as the
flow rate increase and exceeds 100 kPa. If it is considered that
there is a limit of 40 kPa for industrial applications [19], it is
crucial to determine the optimum velocity value. If this pres-
sure limit value is taken into consideration, the operating ve-
locity for all geometries should be between 0.5 and 2.1 m/s.
Then the optimal value is verified that optimization operation
gave the optimal velocity as to be 1 m/s, shown in Table 5.
Figures 9, 10, and 11 show the predicted axial velocity
distribution of three different microchannels with the same
inlet velocity (1 m/s). The transfer of thermal energy by the
movement of molecules is called convection and it depends on
fluid motion. When fluid flows fast, the convective heat trans-
fer between the solid surface and the fluid increases. As
known that wavy and zigzag channel geometries are usually
preferred in heat sink applications and these structures im-
prove fluid disturbance to enhance heat transfer. As can be
seen velocity contours of flow along the microchannels in
Figs. 9, 10, and 11, zigzag and wavy geometry improved
convection heat transfer by increasing turbulence of the flow.
The smooth and continuous form of the streamlines was
distorted, especially at the zigzag angles, and flow fluctuations
continued along the mcirochannel under the influence of the
Fig. 11 Axial velocity contours a
for straigth microchannel
(model 1)
3325
corners. It was also observed that there were softer transitions
between the agglomerates and laminar flow layers in wavy
microchannels. Also, temperature contours of the wavy (mod-
el 2), zig zag (model 3) and straight microchannel (model 1)
can be seen in Fig. 12.
Heat transfer coefficient depends on thermal properties of
the fluid in convection heat transfer. Therefore, thermal prop-
erties (k,ρ, cp,μ) were taken variables as a function of temper-
ature of the fluid in the study. The relationship between inlet
pressure calculated by CFD and Reynolds number can be seen
in Fig. 13. Results showed that the Reynolds number range
corresponding to the industrial pressure drop limit value was
between 100 and 400 for optimum wavy microchannel with
hydraulic diameters of 0.147, length of 10 mm. Also, inlet
pressure data increased with the Reynolds number for the
zigzag and wavy microchannel, the data almost overlap with
each other while Reynolds number is varying from 100 to
400. The input pressure of the zigzag microchannel increased
by about 20% according to the wavy microchannel with in-
creasing values of greater than 250 of Reynolds number.
When the inlet pressure values of the straight channel did
not exceed 10 kPa, the maximum pressure was found as
130 kPa for zigzag microchannel.
3326 Heat Mass Transfer (2018) 54:3317–3328

Fig. 12 Temperature Contours a

for a) wavy (model 2), b) zigzag
(model 3) and c) straigth
microchannel (model 1)

The average Nusselt numbers were obtained for the wavy
microchannel. Figure 14 shows Nusselt number variations in
the range of Reynolds between 100 and 900 for three
microchannels. As can be seen clearly, the highest Nusselt
numbers were obtained for wavy geometry for Re < 700 and
Nusselt number values of the straight microchannel were var-
ied from 2 to 7.5 while obtaining up to 29 for the zigzag
microchannel. Below the limit value of the pressure drop,
Nusselt number values obtained in this range for optimum
wavy geometry were found at a rate of 10% higher than those
of the zigzag channel and 40% higher than those of the straight
channels. CFD results showed that heat transfer performance
of the wavy microchannels could be outperformed both zigzag
and straight microchannels. In addition, an experimental study
done by Sui et al. [23] also have supported our CFD results.
They also reported the wavy microchannels can significantly
increase the heat transfer performance and it depends on the
mixing of fluid elements within the microchannel.
The CFD results for friction factor were presented in di-
mensionless forms in Fig. 15, as functions of Reynolds num-
ber, ranging from 100 to 900. A comparison of the current
results with experimental data [23] was also presented. The
aim of such a comparison was to reveal the influence of the
presence of the different microchannel models on the friction
factor and to validate numerical findings. As expected, the
friction factors for all microchannel models reduced as the
Reynolds number increased. The friction factors for the
straight microchannel were much smaller than the correspond-
ing values for other two microchannels and fairly good agree-
ment was achieved between CFD results and experimental
data [23]. As known higher heat transfer rate was coincided
with higher pressure drop, but the purpose of the study was to
find the best microchannel model gives high thermal perfor-
mance within pressure drop limits. Finally, the comparisons
showed that wavy microchannel further improved convective
heat transfer performance and whereas lowered flow friction.
4 Conclusion
Three different types of microchannels, straight, wavy and
zigzag were studied in the study. Water was used as a working

Fig. 13 Inlet pressure variations 140

with Reynolds number
120

100
P inlet [kPa]

80
Industrial pressure limit Model 1
Model 2
60
Model 3

40

20

0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Re Number [-]
Heat Mass Transfer (2018) 54:3317–3328 3327

Fig. 14 Nusselt number 35

variations with Reynolds number

30

25

Nu Number [-]
20
Model 1
15 Model 2
Model 3
10 Exp. Ref [25]

0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Re Number [-]

fluid. An optimization operation was performed by ANSYS
Response Surface Optimization Tool by utilizing CFD ana-
lyzes to find optimum geometry. A response surface were
created for the range of velocity from 0.5 to 5, the range of
amplitude from 0.06 to 0.3, the range of microchannel height
from 0.1 to 0.2, the range of microchannel width from 0.1 to
0.2 and range of sinusoidal wave length from 0.25 to 2.0 as
input parameters. The outlet temperature of water and inlet
pressure were selected as output parameters. The increase in
the width of the microchannel caused to increase both the heat
transfer surface and the flow cross-sectional area. The increase
of cross-sectional area suppressed heat transfer surface effects
on outlet temperature and an insignificant change recorded in
the outlet temperature. However, an enhancement in the
height of the microchannel led to decrease outlet temperature.
As the increase in width and height of the microchannel pro-
vided the same effect in the direction of the drop of the inlet
pressure. The inlet pressure decreased from 34 kPa to 13 kPa,
while the parameter values (width and height) increased from
0.1 to 0.2. The effects of amplitude and wave lengths on outlet
temperature were not much. But inlet pressures fell below
50 kPa when wave length was smaller than 1.0. On the other
hand, pressure drop varied from 16 kPa to 70 kPa while am-
plitude values changed from 0.06 to 0.3. As a result, optimal
values were obtained for wavy microchannel as Ba^
0.104 mm, Bb^ 0.189 mm, Bc^ 0.121 mm, Bs^ 1.013 mm

Fig. 15 Friction factor variations 1.0000

with Reynolds number
0.9000

0.8000

0.7000

0.6000
f [-]

0.5000 Model 1
Model 2
0.4000 Model 3
Exp. Ref [25]
0.3000

0.2000

0.1000

0.0000
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Re Number [-]
3328
and velocity 1 m/s. All simulations were performed in the
laminar regime for Reynolds number ranging from 100 to
900 for optimal geometry. Results showed the heat transfer
performance of the wavy microchannel was much better than
that of straight and zigzag microchannels.
Publisher’s Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdic-
tional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
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