A numerical investigation of heat transfer enhancement in offset strip fin heat exchangers in self‐sustained oscillatory flows

Abstract

Numerical analysis of the instantaneous flow and heat transfer has been carried out for offset strip fin geometries in self‐sustained oscillatory flow. The analysis is based on the two‐dimensional solution of the governing equations of the fluid flow and heat transfer with the aid of appropriate computational fluid dynamics methods. Unsteady calculations have been carried out. The obtained time‐dependent results are compared with previous numerical and experimental results in terms of mean values, as well as oscillation characteristics. The mechanisms of heat transfer enhancement are discussed and it has been shown that the fluctuating temperature and velocity second moments exhibit non‐zero values over the fins. The creation processes of the temperature and velocity fluctuations have been studied and the dissimilarity between these has been proved.