Vascular design of constructal structures with low flow resistance and nonuniformity

Here we explore new vascular designs for volumetric bathing of smart structures with volumetric functionalities (cooling, self healing). One stream bathes the volume, and the vasculature is configured as two trees matched canopy to canopy. Several architecture types are optimized: one channel size versus two channel sizes, increasing complexity (first, second, and third constructs) and increasing size (up to 50 x 50 elemental volumes). Vasculatures can be optimized for two objectives: low flow resistance and low flow nonuniformity. Tradeoffs are discovered with respect to complexity: for example, the optimized second construct has a lower global resistance than the first construct when the system size exceeds 20 x 20. The flow nonuniformity in the third construct is lower than in the second and first constructs. (C) 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.X112023sciescopu