Numerical Investigation of Natural Convection in an Open-Ended Square Channel with Two Suspending Heat Sources

Abstract

Passive heat dissipation cooling technologies based on natural convection in open channels can effectively control the maximum temperature and improve the temperature homogeneity of 5G base stations, data centers and other equipment. In this paper, the flow and heat transfer of natural convection in an open-ended square channel with two suspending heat sources are studied through numerical simulation. The distributions of the temperature field and flow field in the channel with different horizontal distances and vertical altitude differenced of the heat sources are acquired via the finite element method (FEM)-based COMSOL Multiphysics. The changes in local temperature and the local Nusselt number are obtained. The relationships between the temperature field, flow field, and Nusselt number with respect to the geometric parameters of the heat sources are discussed. With different geometric parameters of the two suspending heat sources, the average surface temperature at the bottom is always lower than the top, while the average Nusselt number reaches maximum and minimum values at the bottom and top surfaces, respectively. As the horizontal distance increases, the maximum vertical airflow velocity decreases. The average surface temperature and local Nusselt number go through a V-shape and reverse V-shape tendency, respectively. The maximum temperature at the surface of the heat source is 397 K at a horizontal distance of 0.36 m. The local Nusselt number on the side of the heat source reaches its maximum at a horizontal distance of 0.28 m with an average value of 33.5. As the vertical altitude difference increases, the temperature difference between the heat sources increases from 0 K to 54 K, and the maximum vertical airflow velocity goes through a reverse V-shape tendency. The Nusselt number of the right heat source decreases to a certain value of about 20, while that of the left heat source goes through a fluctuating tendency. The results show that the best arrangement of the heat sources is a vertical altitude difference of 0 m and a horizontal distance of 0.28 m.