Analysis of the Effects of Joule Heating and Viscous Dissipation on Combined Pressure-Driven and Electrokinetic Flows in a Two-Parallel Plate Channel with Unequal Constant Temperatures

Abstract

In this article, we perform an entropy generation analysis for the micro channel heat sink applications where the flow of fluid is actuated by combined influences of applied pressure gradient and electric field under electrical double layer phenomenon. The upper and lower walls of the channels are kept at different constant temperatures. The temperature-dependent viscosity of the fluid is considered and hence the momentum equation and energy equations are coupled in this study. Also, a hydrodynamic slip condition is employed on the viscous dissipation. For complete analysis of the entropy generation, we use a perturbation approach with lubrication approximation. In this study, we discuss the results depicting variations in the velocity and temperature distributions and their effect on local entropy generation rate and Bejan number in the system. It can be summarized from this analysis that the enhanced velocity gradients in the flow field due to combined effect of temperature-dependent viscosity and Joule heating and viscous dissipative effects, leads to an enhancement in the local entropy generation rate in the system.