Natural convection flow in a vertical microchannel with suction/injection

Abstract

This study analyses the hydrodynamic and thermal behaviours of a fully developed natural convection flow in a vertical parallel-plate microchannel with suction/injection. The velocity slip and temperature jump at the walls are taken into account. The fully developed solutions of the velocity, temperature, volume flow rate, rate of heat transfer which is expressed as the Nusselt number and skin friction are derived analytically. The influence of each governing parameter on the microchannel hydrodynamic and thermal behaviours is discussed with the aid of graphs. Results show that as suction/injection on the channel surfaces increases, the volume flow rate increases and the rate of heat transfer decreases. In addition, it is observed that increase in the effects of rarefaction and fluid–wall interaction results in the increase in the volume flow rate and decrease in the heat transfer rate.