Effect of strut inclination on thermo-hydraulic performance of X-type lattice heat sinks: A numerical study

A numerical study was conducted to examine the influence of strut curvature angle α (40°–60°) and inclination angle β (30°–40°), on flow structure, convective heat transfer, pressure drop, pumping power, and overall thermo-hydraulic performance of X-type lattice structure over a wide Reynolds number range (Re ≈ 2645–7936). For all configurations, the average Nusselt number (Nu<inf>avg</inf>) was found to increase monotonically with Re, while the pressure drop and pumping power per unit length rises more rapidly, resulting in a gradual reduction in thermal-hydraulic performance at higher Re. α was identified as the dominant geometric factor: decreasing α enhances convective heat transfer through stronger geometric confinement, intensified flow acceleration and deflection, and larger thermal gradients within the lattice core, although it also increases pressure losses and pumping power. In contrast, the influence of β is relatively minor and primarily serves to fine-tune the flow and thermal fields. Overall, improved performance can be achieved at small α and moderate Re, where convective heat transfer enhancement outweighs hydraulic losses, indicating that balanced geometric design, rather than maximization of individual lattice angles or heat transfer metrics, is essential for achieving high-performance lattice heat sinks. Excellent correlations were developed for Nu<inf>avg</inf>, pressure drop per unit length, pumping power per unit length and thermal-hydraulic performance factor to quantify the combined effects of Re, α and β. These findings provide insight into the thermo-hydraulic behaviour of additively manufactured lattice-based thermal-management systems for compact and energy-efficient engineering applications.

Applied Thermal Engineering

Applied Thermal Engineering

304

1873-5606

N/A

N/A

21