Finite element analysis of effects of Joule heating, electro-osmosis and slip conditions on the performance of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) micropumps

Abstract

Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) micropump which is energy saving and less pollution has been widely investigated by researchers in recent years. Based on the finite element analysis (FEA) of numerical model of 3D MHD micropump, we investigated the comprehensive effects of Joule heating, electro-osmosis and slip condition at walls on flow performance. This paper presents a new method for solving the full 3D MHD equations by coupling multi-physics fields, and gives a more comprehensive analysis of fundamental principles of MHD micropump. The temperature distribution under different flow channel geometries, the electro-osmotic velocity in MHD micropump, and the influence of slip condition at walls on flow velocity are analyzed in detail. The flow velocity slightly increases when taking the effect of Joule heating into account. In addition, the flow velocity is hardly affected by electron-osmosis in this work. It should be pointed out that the mean temperature of MHD micropump decreases with driven voltage increasing. With the advantage of fast and accurate analysis of MHD micropump performance, this study holds promising potential for the optimal design and fundamental research of MHD micropump.