Numerical study of laminar forced convection heat transfer in a rough mini-channel fabricated by Additive Manufacturing

This study investigates laminar convective heat transfer of water flowing in a mini-channel with a rough surface fabricated by Laser-based Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF) technology. A Gaussian model was used for generating random roughness, and then the three-dimensional numerical simulation was performed in ANSYS-Fluent 19.1. The numerical results indicated a more than double increase in the Nusselt number of rough channels than that of smooth ones with a marginal pressure drop penalty compared to smooth channels, showing the potential benefits of using rough channels fabricated by L-PBF for heat transfer applications.