Geometric optimization of bodies submitted to an intense heat flux using bifurcated channel nets

Abstract

The present work studies the geometric optimization of a body submitted to intense heat flux. The body to be optimized is refrigerated by a ducts system whose circulating fluid will remove the heat. The optimization method is denominated "Constructal Design" and it is based on Constructal theory", which is a new theory that guides the engineers in the discovery of new and highly efficient architectures for the drainage of fluids, mass, energy, and " anything that moves ". The maximum temperature of the system is minimized while the volumes of the body and of the fluid are maintained constant. However, the angle, diameters and lengths of the studied geometry can vary. The ducts structure to be studied is bifurcated. The flow in the ducts is considered incompressible, constant properties, laminar and threedimensional. The equations of conservation of the mass, momentum and energy are solved for the fluid, while the equation of the energy is solved for the solid. The numeric method uses finite volumes for the discretization of the conservation equations. Those equations are solved simultaneously for the determination of the temperature field.