Modeling of microchannel heat sinks for electronic cooling applications using volume averaging approach

•Volume averaged porous medium model for microchannel heat sinks is studied.•Proposed model is divided in flow regimes, specified by Forchheimer number.•Permeability is expressed in terms of the geometry of heat sink.•Flow inertial effects in porous medium model are generalized in Forchhiemer constant.•Criterion for the applicability of Forchhiemer flow model is determined.