Electrokinetic effects on flow and heat transfer in parallel-plate microchannels

In an attempt to quantify the electrokinetic effects, we numerically simulate the pressure driven liquid flow and heat transfer in parallel-plate microchannels based on the Poisson-Boltzmann, Navier-Stokes and energy equations. The calculation is made for hydrodynamically fully developed and thermally developing laminar flows subject to a thermal boundary condition of uniform heat flux. The results include the electrokinetic effects on velocity, friction coefficient, temperature and Nusselt number. The electrokinetic effects are also compared with their counterparts for rectangular microchannel convection.