Numerical investigation of turbulent flow within a channel with chamfered edge ribs in stream-wise direction

Abstract

The present paper reports a numerical investigation of a forced convection water flow within a two-dimensional ribbed channel. A uniform heat flux is applied on the external walls. The flow regime is turbulent and Reynolds numbers are in the range 10·103÷100·103. Square and chamfered rib shapes with different arrangements are analyzed in terms of various dimensionless heights and pitches of elements. The investigation is accomplished by using a CFD code and its aim consists in finding of arrangements to obtain a high Performance Evaluation Criterion (PEC). Results are presented in terms of temperature and velocity fields, profiles of average Nusselt number, average heat transfer coefficients and required pumping power. Heat transfer enhancement increases with the ribs presence, but it is accompanied by an increasing pumping power. In particular, the best performances in terms of Nusselt are shown for p/e = 4 and 12 for both the square and chamfered cases. The heat transfer improves as Reynolds number raises, but a substantial increase of pumping power is also observed. The utilization of chamfered ribs allows to increase the PEC, especially at low Re. The maximum PEC is equal to 1.3 and it is obtained for Re = 104 and p/e = 4.