Numerical Study on Thermal Hydraulic and Flow-Induced Noise in Triply Periodic Minimal Surface (TPMS) Channels

Abstract

Mini-channel heat exchangers are widely used due to their compact structures and high efficiency. Integrating heat exchangers with triply periodic minimal surfaces (TPMS) has shown great potential to optimize the flow and heat transfer performance. In this study, Gyroid (G), Diamond (D), and IWP type TPMS-based heat exchangers are constructed in three dimensions. The thermal-hydraulic, entropy production, and flow-induced noise characteristics of TPMS-based heat exchangers are numerically investigated. The results indicate that the TPMS channels with larger viscosity entropy production have smaller thermal entropy production due to the greater flow disturbance. The G-channel has the highest friction factor and the lowest sound source intensity, while the D-channel obtains the strongest sound source intensity due to frequent cross-collisions of the fluid. The sound source intensity of the IWP channel is 10% lower than the D-channel. The wall dipole sound source plays a dominant role in TPMS channels. This study provides different perspectives to evaluate the performance of a TPMS heat exchanger and provides references for the design and optimization of TPMS heat exchangers.