Numerical study on boiling heat transfer enhancement in a microchannel heat exchanger

Flow boiling in a microchannel heat exchanger has received attention as an effective heat removal mechanism for high power-density microelectronics. Despite extensive experimental studied, the bubble dynamics coupled with boiling heat transfer in a microchannel heat exchanger is still not well understood due to the technological difficulties in obtaining detailed measurements of microscale two-phase flows. In this study, complete numerical simulations are performed to further clarify the dynamics of flow boiling in a microchannel heat exchanger. The level set method for tracking the liquid-vapor interface is modified to include the effects of phase change and contact angle and to treat an immersed solid surface. Based on the numerical results, the effects of modified channel shape on the bubble growth and heat transfer are quantified