A multiobjective parameter study of two-phase flow channel design

Advanced manufacturing techniques have improved dramatically in recent years and design freedom for engineered components and systems has never been greater. Despite these advancements, the majority of our design tools for thermal-fluids systems are still rooted within traditional architectures and manufacturing techniques. In particular, the complex nature of two-phase flow and heat transfer has made the development of design methods that can accommodate these complex geometries enabled by new manufacturing techniques challenging. Here, we investigate a new design method for two-phase flow systems. We conduct a multiobjective parameter study considering two-phase flow and heat transfer through a single channel with a circular cross section. To increase our design degrees of freedom, we allow the channel to increase or decrease in cross-sectional area along its flow length, but constrain the channel inlet and outlet to a constant hydraulic diameter. Maximizing heat transfer and minimizing pressure drop are the two design objectives, which we evaluate using two-phase heat transfer correlations and the Homogeneous Equilibrium Model. We find that using small expansion angles can greatly reduce two-phase flow pressure drop and also provide high heat transfer coefficients when compared to straight channel designs. We present a set of feasible designs for varying input heat fluxes, liquid mass flow rates, and channel orientation angles and show how the ideal expansion channel angle varies with these operational conditions.