Vascularization with trees matched canopy to canopy: Diagonal channels with multiple sizes: Fid-Bau Portal

Vascularization with trees matched canopy to canopy: Diagonal channels with multiple sizes

Lee, J. / Kim, S. / Lorente, S. / Bejan, A.

In this paper, systematically has been studied the effect that the freedom to morph the architecture has on the performance of trees matched canopy to canopy for the vascularization of smart materials with self-healing functionality. Each tree-tree architecture bathes the material body volumetrically. The search for better flow configurations is based on giving the flow system freedom to morph in several directions: channel orientations (diagonal vs. orthogonal), channel sizes (one, two, or three), and system sizes ranging from 3x3 to lOx 10 elemental volumes. Optimal architectures for every class have been reported. It has been shown that tree-tree configurations provide greater access when diagonal channels are combined with orthogonal channels, and when there are multiple and optimized channel sizes. Some figures summarize the results for global flow resistances and channels sizes for all the designs developed in this paper. Better flow access is achieved with multiple and optimized channel sizes. For designs with more than one channel size, the relative difference between competing configurations decreases when the overall system size increases. Described is an even more efficient channel arrangement, where the loops of the network can catch all the crack sites of size d. In this class, the diagonal architectures have the same loop width (d), and are compactly arranged but not over designed. Related to these conclusions is the work described by J.C. Ordonez, A Bejan and R.S. Cherry (Designed porous media: optimally nonuniform flow structures connecting one point with more points, Int. J. Therm. Sci. 42(2003)857-870), where it was shown that an orthogonal tree with several (and optimized) channel sizes performs better than an orthogonal-with-loops design for collecting or supplying flow to an area, i.e., that the non-uniform structure provides greater overall flow access.