Localised dynamics of laminar pulsatile flow in a rectangular channel

The exploitation of flow pulsation in low-Reynolds number micro/minichannel flows is a potentially useful technique for enhancing cooling of high power photonics and electronics devices. Although the mechanical and thermal problems are inextricably linked, decoupling of the local instantaneous parameters provides insight into underlying mechanisms. The current study performs complementary experimental and analytical analyses to verify novel representations of the pulsating channel flow solutions, which conveniently decompose hydrodynamic parameters into amplitude and phase values relative to a prescribed flow rate, for sinusoidally-pulsating flows of Womersley numbers 1.4 ≤ Wo ≤ 7.0 and a fixed ratio of oscillating flow rate amplitude to steady flow rate equal to 0.9. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the velocity measurements – taken using particle image velocimetry – constitute the first experimental verification of theory over two dimensions of a rectangular channel. Furthermore, the wall shear stress measurements add to the very limited number of studies that exist for any vessel geometry. The amplification of the modulation component of wall shear stress relative to a steady flow (with flow rate equal to the amplitude of the oscillating flow rate) is an important thermal indicator that may be coupled with future heat transfer measurements. The positive half-cycle time- and space-averaged value is found to increase with frequency owing to growing phase delays and higher amplitudes in the near-wall region of the velocity profiles. Furthermore, the local time-dependent amplification varies depending on the regime of unsteadiness: (i) For quasi-steady flows, the local values are similar during acceleration and deceleration though amplification is greater near the corners over the interval 0 – 0.5π. (ii) At intermediate frequencies, local behaviour begins to differ during accelerating and decelerating periods and the interval of greater wall shear stress near the corners lengthens. (iii) Plug-like flows experience universally high amplifications, with wall shear stress greater near the corners for the majority of the positive half-cycle. The overall fluid mechanical performance of pulsating flow, measured by the ratio of bulk mean wall shear stress and pressure gradient amplifications, is found to reduce from an initial value of 0.97 at Wo = 1.4 to 0.28 at Wo = 7.0, demonstrating the increasing work input required to overcome inertia.