Numerical Investigation of Enhanced Heat Transfer in a Rectangular Channel with Winglets

Abstract

The liquid flow and heat transfer performance in rectangular channels with winglets are determined numerically in the Reynolds number range of 100 to 300. Water with constant thermophysical properties is used as the working fluid and modeled to be Newtonian. Three-dimensional numerical simulations have been performed on a rectangular plain channel and a rectangular channel with five pairs of winglets heated by a constant wall temperature of 320 K, and the channel has a hydraulic diameter of 6.4 mm. The winglets are mounted at different locations and attack angles inside the rectangular channel. It was found that using winglets can remarkably enhance the heat transfer rates inside the rectangular channel as compared to plain channel. The friction factor increases with increasing the attack angle, while friction factor decreases with increasing Reynolds number. The numerical simulations show an enhancement of 59% in heat transfer performance by using proposed channel with winglets in contrast to a plain channel.