An experimental approach to turbulent heat transfer using a symmetric expanded plane channel

Abstract

The flow in a symmetric expansion plane channel is known to deflect to one side of a channel even at a low Reynolds number due to the Coanda effect. Details of flow structure have been investigated by various authors; however, there have been a few works conducted in the area of on heat transfer. This paper presents experimental results of turbulent heat transfer in separated and reattached flows in a symmetric expansion plane channel. Experiments were conducted using a low-speed open-circuit wind tunnel. The step H was 20 mm high and 200 mm wide, with an expansion ratio of 2.0. The Reynolds number based on the uniform flow velocity at step and H was varied from 5,000 to 35,000, respectively. The mean and turbulent fluctuating velocities were measured using mainly two types of split film probe. A cold single wire probe was used for measuring the mean and turbulent fluctuating temperatures. It was found that the local Nusselt number profile was considerably different on the upper and lower walls due to the Coanda effect, which is was caused by instability between the upper and lower separated shear layers. Empirical formulae for the maximum Nusselt number in the reattachment region are hereby proposed for the upper and lower walls, respectively. The two formulae are well correlated with the previous general formula proposed. The location of maximum Nusselt number is found to be very close to the flow reattachment point. Details of the velocity and temperature fields were clarified and their correlations with the heat transfer characteristics described above investigated. Furthermore, the wavelet transformation methodology was employed to study instantaneous flow and temperature behaviors, which exhibited its usefulness in the study of the present complicated flow and temperature fields.