Multi-Parameter Inversion Optimization for Transverse Rib Profile Enhanced Convective Heat Transfer

Abstract

The convective heat transfer performance of the rib-element approach in the channel is influenced by the transverse rib profile. In present work, a nonlinear multi-parameter optimization method based on inversion optimization is proposed and further used to obtain the optimal rib profile in a rectangular channel. Firstly, four conventional profiles as the original ribbed channel were selected to obtain the convective heat transfer performance of the channel by experiment and numerical solution; secondly, several control points were selected along the profile, and the polar radius was updated, and curve fitting was carried out. The results show that the inversion optimization can optimize the rib profile to improve the convective heat transfer performance. As the number of control points increases, the optimized profile changes hardly. The inversion optimization yields a similar optimized profile regardless of the original rib profile. With the increase of original rib height, the enhanced heat transfer performance of optimized profile is better. For the ribbed channel with original height 0.4 × channel height, as the Reynolds number increases from 6000 to 33,000, the performance evaluation criteria of the optimized profile increase by 14.94% to 21.2% compared with the original triangular profile.