Numerical simulation of heat transfer enhancement from tubes surface to airflow using concave delta winglet vortex generators

Abstract

Improvement of the convection heat transfer coefficient of the airflow has become a concern nowadays to increase the rate of heat transfer. Therefore, the present study is focused on evaluating the improvement of heat transfer numerically from several heated tubes to the airflow in the channel using vortex generators. Airflow into the channel is varied in the range of Reynolds number of 2100–11,200. The vortex generators used in this study are delta winglet pairs and concave delta winglet pairs with in-line or staggered configurations for one to three pairs of vortex generators. The results of the study showed that the installation of three pairs of concave delta winglet vortex generators with a staggered arrangement resulted in the best convection heat transfer improvements with the highest increase in convection heat transfer coefficients up to 53.58% than those from the baseline (without vortex generators). However, the increase in the convection heat transfer coefficient is accompanied by an increase in pressure drop of up to 69.69% against the baseline.