A THERMAL ANALYSIS OF A FUNCTIONALLY-GRADED GYROID AS A HEAT SINK

Because of their high heat transfer area per unit volume, additive manufacturable cellular materials based on Triply Periodic Minimal Surfaces (TPMS) are receiving attention by designers of heat exchangers, thermal energy storage systems, and solar receivers. In this paper, numerical predictions are performed on a heat sink of the gyroid structure. The structure is designed using the MSLattice toolbox in MATLAB and imported for meshing and analysis using commercial finite element software. Conduction and convection heat transfer are considered by assuming a uniform temperature allowed by the surface that has to dissipate the heat, as well air flow through the structure. Simulations are carried out to predict the Nusselt number, the friction factor, and the temperature distribution in the structure. Such computations are performed by assuming equal cell size, under different mass flow rates, porosities, and porosity gradients along the main heat flux direction. Results indicate that the heat sink performance can be improved if the amount of solid material is increased near the heat source in order to reduce local thermal conduction resistance. The findings may be of interest to design extended surfaces under a limited weight or material constraint