Control of Separated Flow Past Backward-Facing Step in Microchannel Available to Purchase

A key concern for micro device design is its power consumption. When such a device involves microflows, actively controlling the flow losses often reduces the power requirements. In the present study, a micro synthetic jet is proposed as a flow control device. The method used is an automated design optimization methodology coupled with computational fluid dynamics. Microflows in the Knudsen range of 10⁻³ to 10⁻¹ are modeled using a Navier-Stokes solver but with slip velocity and temperature jump boundary conditions derived for micro-sized geometries. First, an uncontrolled flow past a backward facing step in a channel is computed. Then, a synthetic jet actuator is placed downstream of the step where the separation occurs. A large number of test cases have been analyzed. It has been observed that the reattachment point of the separated flow and the flow dissipation are quite sensitive to the location and the geometry of the synthetic jet as well as the parameters of the oscillating membrane. The best flow control, defined as the largest decrease in dissipation, is obtained when the actuator cavity width and the membrane oscillation amplitude are increased simultaneously.