Heat transfer increase by convection in liquid-infused surfaces for laminar and turbulent flows

TL;DR

This study uses numerical simulations to demonstrate that liquid-infused surfaces can enhance heat transfer in both laminar and turbulent flows through recirculation effects, especially when solid and fluid conductivities are similar.

Contribution

It reveals the conditions under which heat transfer increases in LIS, highlighting the role of recirculation and material properties, and provides quantitative insights into the enhancement in turbulent flows.

Findings

Heat transfer can increase due to recirculation in surface textures.

Significant heat transfer enhancement (~10%) observed in turbulent flows.

Recirculation effects are limited by system scale and material conductivity.

Abstract

Liquid-infused surfaces (LIS) can reduce friction drag in both laminar and turbulent flows. However, the heat transfer properties of such multi-phase surfaces have still not been investigated to a large extent. We use numerical simulations to study conjugate heat transfer of liquid-filled grooves. It is shown that heat transfer can increase for both laminar and turbulent liquid flows due to recirculation in the surface texture. For the increase to be substantial, the thermal conductivity of the solid must be similar to the thermal conductivity of the fluids, and the recirculation in the grooves must be sufficiently strong (P\'eclet number larger than 1). The ratio of the surface cavity to the system height is an upper limit of the direct contribution from the recirculation. While this ratio can be significant for laminar flows in microchannels, it is limited for turbulent flows, where the system scale (e.g. channel height) usually is much larger than the texture height. However, heat transfer enhancement on the order of $10\%$ is observed (with a net drag reduction) in a turbulent channel flow at a friction Reynolds number $Re_\tau \approx 180$. It is shown that the turbulent convection in the bulk can be enhanced indirectly from the recirculation in the grooves.