Effects of the secondary flow on the turbulent heat transfer of a flat plate wake

Abstract

The effect of secondary flow on the heat transfer of a turbulent wake generated by a flat plate was experimentally investigated. The secondary flow was induced in a curved duct in which the flat plate wake generator was installed. All three components of turbulent heat flux were measured in the plane containing the mean radius of curvature of the curved duct. The results showed that mean temperature profiles deviate from the similarity of the straight wake because of the cold fluid transported from the free-stream. The half-width of the mean temperature profile increased rapidly by upwash motion of the secondary flow. The changes to turbulence structure caused by the secondary flow show more pronounced effect on heat transport than on momentum transport. This is because the response to the variation of flow conditions is delayed in temperature field. Negative production of the turbulent heat flux is observed in the inner wake region. From the conditional averaging, it has been found that the negative production of the turbulent heat flux is generated due to a mixing process between the hot and low momentum eddies occupied in the inner wake region and the cold and high momentum eddies in the potential region.