Determination of the optimal thickness for a flat plate with conjugate heat transfer in laminar forced convection flow

Numerical simulation is performed for a conjugate heat transfer problem via ANSYS FLUENT 12.0.1 environment to optimize the thickness of a plate where the lower surface is heated with uniform heat flux. At the other surface of the plate there is a laminar boundary layer flow. Heat is then transferred to the fluid through the plate. The working temperature of the plate may exceed the desired temperature level. Since the performance of equipment has a direct relationship with its temperature, it is important to keep it at an acceptable temperature level. Consequently, here, optimization means to minimize the maximum temperature (the hot spot) at the plate such that it does not exceed a specified allowable value. It is shown that by enlarging the thickness of the plate the maximum temperature at the plate is first reduced and then increases. This conflicting behavior results in the existence of an optimal value for the thickness of the plate such that the maximum temperature at the plate is minimized.

Keywords:

Conjugate heat transfer , Finite plate , Optimization , Laminar forced convection