Bio-inspired heat exchanger fabricated using additive manufacturing: Numerical and experimental investigation

Bio-inspired heat exchange architectures translate natural branching logics into engineered flow networks that intensify mixing while maintaining compactness. This study presents develop and validate a vascular-inspired air side heat exchanger fabricated in AlSi10Mg by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF). A structured design of experiments (DoE) explores four geometric controls tube diameter (d), branch angle (θ), height (l), and wall thickness (t) to quantify their effects on the air side heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop. Steady conjugate CFD is coupled with a user-defined function that imposes the measured ±5 °C inlet temperature variability, and results are benchmarked against experimental work over m a ̇ = 0.002–0.040 kg/s. The DoE indicates that dimeter, thickness, and angle are the principal determinants of air side heat transfer coefficient , whereas dimeter and height dominate pressure drop, with significant (l × d), (d × θ), and (d × t) interactions shaping response surfaces. Measurements show heat transfer coefficient increasing monotonically from around 30 to 220 W/m 2 ·K, over 0.002–0.010 kg/s. These results demonstrate that hierarchical branching can enhance air side heat transfer performance with an inevitable hydraulic penalty, positioning LPBF enabled bio-inspired designs as promising candidates for compact thermal management applications where the thermo–hydraulic trade-off can be quantified and managed. • Blood vessel inspired heat exchanger enables high surface area thermal management. • Experiments and simulations show enhanced mixing and lower air-side resistance. • Monolithic additively manufactured metal design; compact, scalable, manufacturable. • Bio-inspired core offers high surface area thermal management in a compact form.