Flow Visualization and Heat Transfer Characteristics of Liquid Jet Impingement

Abstract

Equipment used to cool horticultural produce often involves three-phase porous media. The flow field and heat transfer processes that occur in such equipment are generally quantified by means of empirical relationships amongst dimensionless groups. This work represents a first step towards the goal of harnessing the power of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to better understand the heat transfer processes that occur in beds of irrigated horticultural produce. The primary objective of the present study is to use numerical predictions towards reducing the energy and cooling water requirement in cooling horticultural produce. In this paper, flow and heat transfer predictions are presented of a single slot liquid jet impinging on flat and curved surfaces using a CFD code (FLUENT) for 2D configurations. The effects of Reynolds number, nozzle to plate spacing, nozzle width, and target surface configuration have been studied. Reynolds numbers of 250, 375, 500, 700, 1000, 1500, 1800, and 1900 are studied where the liquid medium is water. Here, the Reynolds number is defined in terms of the hydraulic nozzle diameter, inlet jet velocity, and fluid kinematic viscosity. The results show that Reynolds numbers, nozzle to plate spacing, and nozzle width have a significant effect on the flow field and heat transfer characteristics, whereas the target surface configuration at the stagnation area has no substantial impact. The use of a numerical tool has resulted in a detailed investigation of these characteristics, which has not been available in the literature previously.