Numerical thermal analysis and optimization of a water jet impingement cooling with VOF two-phase approach

The fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics of a free-surface liquid jet impingement cooling have been investigated numerically. The slot jet with water impinging normally on a flat plate is employed. To describe the turbulent structure, the turbulent governing equations are solved by a control-volume-based finite-difference method with a power-law scheme and the well-known turbulence model, which are associated with wall function. Numerical computations have been conducted with variations of jet exit Reynolds number (11,000 ≤ Re_d ≤ 17,000), dimensionless jet-to-surface distance (3 ≤ H/d₀ ≤ 12), dimensionless jet width (1 ≤ B/d₀ ≤ 2), and the heat flux (140 kW/m² ≤ q″ ≤ 280 kW/m²). The theoretical model developed is validated by comparing the numerical predictions with available experimental data in the literature. Under the studied ranges, the variations of local Nusselt numbers by hydraulic diameter Nu_d of the dimensionless jet-to-surface distance 3 ≤ H/d₀ ≤ 12 along the flat plate decrease monotonically from its maximum value at the stagnation point. In addition, the shape of the inlet area and jet-to-surface distance are optimized by using the response surface methodology (RSM) and the genetic algorithm (GA) method after solutions are carefully validated with available experimental results in the literature. Based on the optimal results, the optimum condition is in H/d₀ = 7.86 and B/d₀ = 2 for this physical model.