Numerical simulations on flow and heat transfer in ribbed two-pass square channels under rotational effects

Abstract

The main objective of this research is to study the flow and heat transfer characteristics in a rotating two-pass square channel with ribbed walls. In this study, the channel length-to-hydraulic diameter ratio of the rotating two-pass square channel (L/Dh), the rib height-to-hydraulic diameter ratio (e/Dh), rib angle of attack (α) and the rib pitch-to-height (p/e) ratio are fixed at 11.33, 0.13, 60° and 10, respectively. The test fluid is air having the flow rate in terms of constant Reynolds number (Re) of 10,000. The rotation numbers (Ro) are varied from 0.1 to 0.4. The details of the local heat transfer distribution and the flow field of the rotating two-pass square channel are numerically studied by using commercial software ANSYS Fluent (ver.15.0). The results show that the ribbed walls enhance the heat transfer rate significantly. Under rotation, the average Nu in the first pass with radial outward flow is increased while that in the second pass is decreased, and also found that maximum heat transfer rate is observed for rotation number of 0.4 which is higher about 10-20% when compared with the other rotation number cases.