Abstract: Flows and heat transfer through periodic structures are often encountered in many industrial systems. Recognizing the similarity in flow and thermal fields along the periodically repeating units, Patankar et al. (J. Heat Transfer 1977) proposed pressure and temperature transforms, via which single-unit simulations can be performed for such periodic systems. This novel approach significantly reduces the computational demand; however it is limited to very specific boundary thermal conditions and therefore cannot be applied to general industrial situations.

We recently developed the temperature decomposition method (TDM) for periodic thermal flows. By splitting the temperature into transient and equilibrium parts, TDM allows general boundary conditions on the device surfaces. In this presentation, we will describe the mathematical formulation, physical interpretation, and numerical demonstration for TDM. Our research suggests that this method could be useful for relevant heat transfer applications.