Numerical investigation of the impact of inclined baffles and an elastic vibrating beam on the thermo-fluid behavior in a rectangular channel

Abstract

In the present work, the influence of inclined baffles and an elastic vibrating beam is investigated on the flow pattern and heat transfer rate in a rectangular channel. The cylinder with the elastic vibrating beam develops the vibrating flow. The computations are based on the finite element method (FEM); Galerkin least-squares scheme and Newton–Raphson iterative method are implemented to solve the governing equations. The fluid structure-interaction (FSI) method is used to analyze the elastic vibrating beam. The friction factor coefficient and Nusselt number are examined for the inclined and conventional baffles. The flow regime is assumed to be laminar for various baffle angles and Reynolds numbers. The vibrating beam is connected to the cylinder located in the channel entrance. Optimized cases with the maximum heat transfer and minimum friction factor are introduced. The novelty of this study is the simultaneous use of the elastic vibrating beam and inclined baffles in a rectangular channel. The results show that mounting an elastic vibrating beam on the cylinder leads the heat transfer rate to increase. The channel with an elastic vibrating beam and inclined baffles at 135° is the optimized case compared to other cases.Article HighlightsTake advantage of using an elastic vibrating beam in a rectangular channel.Influences of inclined baffles on thermal performance are examined numerically.The optimum case for the channel with inclined-baffles is reported.