CONSTRUCTAL DESIGN OF T-SHAPED HIGH CONDUCTIVE PATHWAY WITH NON-UNIFORM THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY FOR COOLING A HEAT-GENERATING MEDIUM CONSIDERING THE THERMAL CONTACT RESISTANCE
Eduardo Barreto1; Cássia Beckel1; Luiz Rocha1; Paulo Schneider1; Elizaldo Santos2; Liércio Isoldi2
1 UFRGS; 2 FURG
doi:10.20906/CPS/CILAMCE2015-0823
Resumo
Abstract - This numerical study applies the Constructal Design method to obtain the configuration that provides the easier access to the heat flowing through a T-shaped conductive pathway, with two different thermal conductivities, which is placed in a volumetric medium with low thermal conductivity and heat-generating. In this context, a third material located between the conductive pathway and the heat-generating medium has the function of thermal contact resistance. The objective function is to minimize the maximum temperature excess over the entire system (materials with high and low thermal conductivity and thermal contact resistance), i.e., reduce the hot spots of a system with uniform heat generation. In this context, the heat conduction equation is solved using a numerical code based on finite element approach, more specifically using the PDEtool in MATLAB environment. The total volume is fixed as well as the volume of the high thermal conductivity material and the amount of the material that represents the thermal contact resistance. However the two branches of "T" may have different values of thermal conductivities. The configuration was optimized by varying the lengths (L1/L0) and widths (D1/D0) of the two branches forming the "T", keeping fixed the aspect ratio of the area of the conductive material (0 +1) with respect to the total area of the body (A). "The results indicate that the application of the Constructal Design method leads to an optimized shape which obeys the principle of optimal distribution of imperfections."
Palavras-chave: Constructal Design; thermal contact resistance; heat transfer