LBM simulation of piezo fan in square enclosure

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the use of a piezo fan in an enclosure on wall heat transfer and thermal boundary layer profile in constant wall temperature situation. Design/methodology/approach The governing partial differential equations of mass, momentum and energy in addition to boundary conditions are solved by lattice Boltzmann method. The problem is solved numerically using D2Q9 population's model and Bhatnagar–Gross–Krook collision model with a code written in MATLAB. Findings The effects of Prandtl number (Pr) and the frequency of piezo fan vibrations are critically investigated on the hydrothermal characteristics of the square cavity. The mesh independency study and the validation of the proposed model are accomplished with numerical results of Ghia et al. (1982) and analytical solution of pure conduction very good agreement is found between present results and benchmark findings. Generally, with increasing beam frequency, the heat removal from heat source increased. It is found that, for all Prandtl numbers, wall Nusselt number will increase with the increase of the beam frequency. This enhancement is more intense in higher Prandtl number. Originality/value Based on these results, the use of piezo fan in an enclosure can be classified as standalone as well as heat sink integrated cooling solution.