Heat transfer intensification using a cellular automaton

Abstract

Paper presented at the 5th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, South Africa, 1-4 July, 2007.

The aim of this study is to propose an optimisation method for heat transfer in a complex configuration inspired from well known constructal theory. Two cases of optimisation will be presented here: the case of a square heater cooled by a single-sided heat sink and the case of a disc-shaped area to be cooled with a central heat sink. The method used for optimisation is a cellular automaton which can progressively modify the shape of a conductive path linked to the heat sink with very simple rules. The rules imitate natural morphogenesis: as motionless organisms can grow along nutrient or water gradients with roots and pseudopodia, the cellular automaton created here initiates growth around the conductive path where thermal gradients are high and initiates destruction of conductive matter where gradients are low, so that the amount of conductive matter remains constant. The actual limitations of this procedure are exposed.