Numerical investigation of fluid flow structure and heat transfer in a passage with continuous and truncated V-shaped ribs

Abstract

Purpose – The employment of continuous ribs in a passage involves a noticeable pressure drop penalty, while other studies have shown that truncated ribs may provide a potential to reduce the pressure drop while keeping a significant heat transfer enhancement. The purpose of this paper is to perform computer-aided simulations of turbulent flow and heat transfer of a rectangular cooling passage with continuous or truncated 45-deg V-shaped ribs on opposite walls. Design/methodology/approach – Computational fluid dynamics technique is used to study the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics in a three-dimensional rectangular passage with continuous and truncated V-shaped ribs. Findings – The inlet Reynolds number, based on the hydraulic diameter, is ranged from 12,000 to 60,000 and a low-Re k-e model is selected for the turbulent computations. The local flow structure and heat transfer in the internal cooling passages are presented and the thermal performances of the ribbed passages are compared. It is found that the passage with truncated V-shaped ribs on opposite walls provides nearly equivalent heat transfer enhancement with a lower (about 17 percent at high Reynolds number of 60,000) pressure loss compared to a passage with continuous V-shaped ribs or continuous transversal ribs. Research limitations/implications – The fluid is incompressible with constant thermophysical properties and the flow is steady. The passage is stationary. Practical implications – New and additional data will be helpful in the design of ribbed passages to achieve a good thermal performance. Originality/value – The results imply that truncated V-shaped ribs are very effective in improving the thermal performance and thus are suggested to be applied in gas turbine blade internal cooling, especially at high velocity or Reynolds number.