Proceedings of the ASME 2016 Heat Transfer Summer Conference
HT2016
A NUMERICAL PARAMETRIC STUDY OF FLOW AND HEAT TRANSFER IN
CIRCULAR AND ZIG-ZAG SQUARE MICROCHANNEL HEAT SINKS
Wenming Li*
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC, United States
Tamanna Alam
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC, United States
Corresponding author. Email address: wenming@email.sc.edu
*
ABSTRACT This paper aims to study the overall performance
of circular and zig-zag square microchannel heat sinks with
single phase liquid flow via a numerical parametric study.
Thermal resistance and pressure drop when subjected to key
geometric parameters such as hydraulic diameter, orientation,
and connector length is numerically investigated with Reynolds
number ranging from 50 to 500. Specifically, the hydraulic
diameter is varied from 100 μm to 300 μm with an increment of
100 μm; the orientation angle of 10°, 20° and 30° is studied. A
figure of merit (FOM) involving both the thermal resistance and
pressure drop is introduced to evaluate the performance.
Results show that hydraulic diameter is critical to thermal
resistance and pressure drop compared to orientation angle.
Zig-zag microchannel heat sink shows better performance
compared with heat sinks with circular microchannel. FOM
varies considerably with the change in hydraulic diameter and
flow rate.
Keyword: Electronic cooling, Microchannel heat sinks,
Conjugate heat transfer, Numerical simulation.
INTRODUCTION
Thermal management is very important to the safe operations
of electronic devices. In the past decades, heat sinks as an
effective cooling approaches have become a topic of interest [1-
3]. With the increase in density of electronic components inside
chips, the heat dissipation of high power electronics is getting
even more challenging as the reduction of chip size and
augment of power density. Therefore, improved efficiency of
heat dissipation is critical to the cooling of electronic devices.
Microchannel heat sinks are widely used in electronic cooling
due to their small size and high heat transfer capability
compared to traditional cooling techniques. There are many
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July 10-14, 2016, Washington, DC, USA
HT2016-7438
Fanghao Yang
IBM T. J. Watson Research Center
Yorktown Heights, NY, United States
Congcong Ren
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC, United States
advantages of microchannel heat sinks, including low thermal
resistance, high capability of heat transfer, high ratio of surface-
to-volume, and compact size for application in microscale
systems. The main disadvantages of employing microchannel
heat sinks are high pressure drops and packaging. Pressure
drop increases significantly with reduction in channel size. With
these merits, many researches have been done to study the
performances of microchannel heat sinks through experimental
and numerical methods [1, 2, 4-8].
The heat transfer performances of microchannel heat sinks
are close related to geometry configurations and the ratio of
surface-to-volume. In micro scale, the thermal boundary layer is
greatly influenced by the geometry configurations. The periodic
disruption of thermal boundary layer by active and passive
techniques can reduce the thermal resistance. For example, zig-
zag microchannels and wavy microchannels have been proved
to increase thermal performance [1, 4, 9, 10]. In addition, the flow
dynamics in microchannels have significant effect on the
development of thermal boundary layer. The Poiseuille flow in
zig-zag microchannel was perturbed by the curved geometry
[11]. Wavy and zig-zag microchannel are explored as a passive
method to enhance heat transfer. Recently, most investigations
regarding evaluation of microchannel heat sinks are limited to
the hydrodynamics and heat transfer performance without
considering the pumping power [1, 3, 9]. However, the pumping
power or pressure drop across the device is typically significant
for the design and application of cooling devices. Subsequently,
an evaluation of only the thermal performance is not adequate
for microchannel heat sinks. Thereby, a figure of merit (FOM)
comprising of both pumping power and thermal resistance is
developed to evaluate the overall performance of microchannel
heat sinks.
 As aforementioned, geometry configurations have significant loss is negligible. The temperature profile and the fluid flow are
effects on the performance of microchannel heat sinks. In this governed by six equations, including continuity equation, three
study, two microchannel configurations of circular and zig-zag momentum equations and two energy equations, as follows:

will be numerically studied. The effects of hydraulic diameter ∇V = 0 (1.1)
  
( )
and repeated disruption in flow direction on the performance of
heat sinks will be considered. Finally, the results of this study ρ V ∇V = −∇P + µ∇ 2V (1.2)
are expected to provide guidelines to the design of high 
performance microchannel heat sinks. ρVC p ∇TF = k F ∇ 2TF (1.3)

STUDY DESIGN AND THEORETICAL MODEL
Many of the existing works only focused on the flow and
heat transfer of circular or zig-zag in micro-channel heat sinks [6,
9, 10, 12]. However, the comparison of heat transfer performance
and parametric study among these two geometry configurations
are lacking. Subsequently, this study will carry out parametric
study of circular and zig-zag micro-channel, and then compare
their performances versus Reynolds number, including pressure
drop, thermal resistance and FOM.
Temperature profile and flow pattern in this study are
obtained by numerically solving the governing equations using
COMSOL multiphysics. The dimension of micro-channel heat
sink chip is (1×1)inch with thickness of 500 μm. Water is used
as the coolant. The hydraulic diameter varies from 100 μm to 300
μm with an increment of 100 μm. The micro-channel heat sink is
comprised by repeating units with orientation angle from 10° to
30° with increments of 10°. The Reynolds number of the liquid
flow at the entrance of the channel is varied between 50 and 500
for all the numerical models. A uniform heat flux of 1.55×105
W/m2 is applied at the bottom of the micro heat sink and the
temperature of the water at the inlet is kept as 283.15 K. Figure 1
illustrates the zig-zag microchannel heat sink unit.
Figure 1 Schematic of the repeated zig-zag microchannel heat
sink unit. (a) cross-section of the unit. (b) top-view of the unit.
Several assumptions were made in order to solve the
numerical equations of conjugate heat transfer model, including
1) the fluid flow is steady state, 2) single phase flow in the
channel, 3) no-slip velocity at wall boundary, 4) the fluid is
incompressible, 5) constant thermo physical properties, 6) heat
∇ 2TS =
0 (1.4)
Specific boundary conditions are defined to solve the
governing equations of the current model. The inlet liquid
velocity is calculated by Reynolds number. The pressure at the
outlet of the channel is assumed to be zero. Based on non-slip
condition, the liquid velocity at the walls of the channel is zero.
The top of micro-channel covered with Pyrex glass is assumed
to be insulated.
As shown in Figure 1, one repeated unit of a micro-channel
heat sink will be studied. Both sides of the heat sink section are
assigned symmetry boundary conditions. In addition, the inlet
and outlet surfaces of the substrate are also considered to be
insulated. The inlet temperature of liquid is a constant
temperature of 283.15 K. The heat transfer at the interface
between substrate and liquid is defined by:
∂TF ∂TS
kF  = kS 
∂n ∂Ω ∂n ∂Ω
(1.5)
Where, ∂Ω represents the interface between the solid and
liquid. The six governing equations of the conjugate heat
transfer model subjected to the above boundary conditions are
solved using finite volume method.
To evaluate the overall performance of microchannel heat
sinks in term of FOM, thermal resistance and pumping power is
considered. The thermal resistance is calculated as the ratio of
the difference between the maximum temperature of the
substrate and the inlet temperature of the liquid to the heat
applied at the bottom of the substrate. Pumping power across
the channel for the analysis is calculated as the product of
pressure drop and flow rate of the liquid.
TS ,out − TF ,in
Rth = (1.6)
q
PP =∆P × V (1.7)
The pumping power and thermal resistance are
nondimensionalized using the thermal resistance and pumping
power obtained from a model of the same overall dimensions but
without any fin structures.
Rth ,Ch
Rth ,non = (1.8)
Rth , without _ Ch

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 PPCh 1 808859 0.654 23800 302.24
PPnon = (1.9)
PPWithout ,Ch
A weighted average method is used to calculate the FOM due 1.308 61400 292.81
to the multi-objective problem of design. Hence, FOM is
calculated as follows. 2 1859873 0.654 25600 300.77
1
FOM = (1.10)
( n1× Rth,non ) × ( n2 × PPnon ) 1.308 69800 291.87
Where n1 + n 2 = 1 . By varying the values of n1 and n2, the
relative effect of each parameter on FOM can be determined 3 2746868 0.654 25400 300.64
according to the objective of the design. In this study, the value
of n1 and n2 is taken as 0.5. This means that equal significance
1.308 67800 291.85
for determining FOM. The pumping power and thermal
resistance are inversely proportional to FOM. Therefore, the
value of FOM represents the overall performance of the heat For optimization of geometry configuration and applications,
sinks. a parametric study of flow and heat transfer for circular and zig-
zag square microchannel heat sinks is done by numerical
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION simulation. The overall performance of circular and zig-zag
Mesh optimization and grid dependency: Meshes are microchannel heat sinks in term of FOM is studied for hydraulic
optimized before every calculation in order to obtain an accurate diameter of 100 μm, 200 μm, and 300 μm, respectively. The
solution of the governing equations solved numerically using orientation of flow direction is varied in term of number of turn
COMSOL. The grid dependency is studied as well. The from 5 to 15 with increment of 5 combined with Reynolds
optimization of mesh setting is checked by the grid dependency number (Re) varies from 50 to 500 by increments of 50. The inlet
of the meshed models. The mesh dimensions are refined temperature of liquid is kept constant of 283.15 K. Figure 3
continuously. The results of maximum substrate temperature, shows the contour plot of heat distribution along flow direction
flow rate and pressure drop of the device are compared to that in the silicon substrate after obtaining solution of the model of
obtained from the previously refined mesh model. If the circular microchannel. The temperature of the fluid increases in
maximum relative change in these parameters is within an the direction of flow due to the conjugate heat transfer at the
acceptable range (less than 0.5%), the continuously refined interface. Therefore, heat can be dissipated by the fluid flows in
mesh is considered to be optimized. The study of grid the microchannel. To investigate the effects of orientation angle
dependency is shown in Table 1. on the temperature distribution, Figure 4 shows comparison of
contour of temperature distribution for circular and zig-zag
microchannel. The results demonstrate that the increased
number of turns can enhance the dissipation of heat.

Figure 2 Free Tetrahedral mesh.

Table 1 Grid dependency analysis.
Case # Element Vin Pressure Tout Figure 3 Contour plot of the temperature (K) distribution for
Number (m/s) drop (Pa) (K) circular microchannel ( Dh=100 μm, orientation angle=10°, and
Re=100 ).

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 Pressure drop is dramatically influenced by the hydraulic
diameter of microchannel. As shown in Figure 6, pressure drops
for hydraulic diameter of 100 μm are much higher than that for
diameter of 200 μm and 300 μm in both two configurations. In
addition, the increased number of turns led to the increase of
surface flow resistance is responsible for the high pressure
drops. The change of orientation angle plays a role to the
increase of pressure drop as well, especially for smaller
microchannel with hydraulic diameter of 100 μm.
Figure 4 Contour of temperature (K) distribution of circular and
zig-zag micro-channel (Dh=100 μm and Re=50 ).
Pressure drop and thermal resistance are two main parameters
to evaluate the overall performance in term of FOM. Hence, the
effects of two geometry configurations, including circular and
zig-zag microchannel, on FOM are discussed. Figure 5 shows
the thermal resistances are plotted as function of Re for these
two configurations. For each hydraulic diameter, the orientation
angle varies from 10° to 30°. The results demonstrate that the
thermal resistance decreases with the increase of hydraulic
diameters. The effect of number of turns determined by
orientation angle on thermal resistance is very small compared
to the effect of hydraulic diameter. The thermal resistance in
circular microchannel is smaller than that in zig-zag
microchannel besides of circular microchannel with diameter of
100 μm.

Figure 6 Pressure drop versus Re. (a) Variation pressure drop

with Reynolds number for different hydraulic diameters in zig-
zag microchannel. (b) Variation in pressure drop with Reynolds
number for different hydraulic diameters in circular
microchannel.
Figure 7 demonstrates overall performance in term of the
FOM for circular and zig-zag microchannel by considering
pressure drop and thermal resistance. The results show that
pressure drop, which is close related to hydraulic diameters and
Reynolds number, plays little role to the trend of FOM.
However, orientation angle has significant effect on FOM for
the two geometry configurations. FOM significantly varies with
orientation angles in term of number of turns. The effect of
orientation angles on pressure drop is limited for hydraulic
diameter of 200 μm and 300 μm. The FOM in both two
configurations with hydraulic diameter of 100 μm and turn of 5
reaches an average value among all the results. Therefore, the
variation in number of turns has significant effect on the overall
Figure 5 Thermal resistances versus Re. (a) Variation in thermal
performance for these two geometry configurations.
resistance with Reynolds number for different hydraulic
Figure 8 shows a comparison of overall heat transfer
diameters in zig-zag microchannel. (b) Variation in thermal
performance between circular microchannel and zig-zag
resistance with Reynolds number for different hydraulic
microchannel. The FOM for zig-zag microchannel is higher than
diameters in circular microchannel. The meaning of legend of
that for circular microchannel except for zig-zag microchannel
“c100 5”, “c” means circular channel; “100” means hydraulic
with hydraulic diameter of 300 μm and number of turn of 15. In
diameter of 100 μm; “5” means the number of turns. For “z100
addition, at low values of Re, the FOM is higher than that at
5”, “z” means zig-zag channel; “100” means hydraulic diameter
higher values of Re. For circular and zig-zag heat sinks, the
of 100 μm; “5” means the number of turns.

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 FOM increases as the increase of hydraulic diameter mainly due Figure 7 FOM versus Re. (a) Variation of FOM in term of
to the decrease in the pressure drop. The thermal resistance of Reynolds number for different hydraulic diameters in circular
the heat sinks decreases as the increase of Reynolds number, microchannel. (b) Variation of FOM in term of Reynolds number
but the effect of hydraulic diameter on thermal resistance is for different hydraulic diameters in zig-zag microchannel.
limited.
4.5
c300 5
c300 10
c300 15
4.0 z300 5
z300 10
z300 15

FOM
3.5

3.0

2.5
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
Re
Figure 8 Comparison of FOM between circular and zig-zag
microchannel for diameter of 300 μm at different Re.

CONCLUSIONS
The overall performance of circular and zig-zag square
microchannel heat sinks is numerically studied. FOM is used to
evaluate the the effect of thermal resistance and pressure drop
on the overall performance of microchannel heat sinks.
Characteristic study of the heat sinks subjected to uniform heat
flux is carried out over Reynolds number ranging from 50 to 500.
This study demonstrates that the importance of considering
pressure drop along with thermal resistance in evaluating the
overall performance of the microchannel heat sink. FOM varies
considerably with the change in the parameters like flow rate,
number of turns, and hydraulic diameter of microchannel. The
major conclusions are as follows.
1) Circular and zig-zag microchannel heat sinks are
numerically studied on a wide range of Re with variation in
hydraulic diameters.
2) At low values of Re, lower pressure drops of the heat sinks
lead to better performance.
3) The variation in number of turns has effect on the pressure
drop of the heat sinks for present circular and zig-zag
microchannels. However, there is limited effect on the
change of thermal resistance.
4) For these two geometry configurations, this study
demonstrates that the FOM increases as the increase of
hydraulic diameter mainly due to the decrease in the
pressure drop. The thermal resistance of the heat sinks
decreases as the increase of Reynolds number, but the
effect of hydraulic diameter on thermal resistance is limited.
The findings of this study can be used for optimizing the
design of circular and zig-zag microchannel heat sinks subjected
to design constrains such as constant Re.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
N/A.

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