Numerical study of forced convection in a turbulent heat sink made of several rows of blocks of square form

Abstract

Forced convection is a phenomenon associated with the heat transfer fluid flows. The presence of convection affects simultaneously the thermal and hydrodynamic fields, the problem is thus coupled. This form of heat transfer inside ducts occurs in many practical applications such as solar collectors, heat exchangers, cooling of electronic components as well as chemical and nuclear. In this work, we are interested primarily for a numerical study of thermo-hydraulic performances of an incompressible turbulent flow of air through a heat sink composed of several rows of bars of square section. Profiles and the axial velocity fields, as well as profiles and the distribution of the Nusselt number are plotted for all the geometry considered and chosen for different sections. The effects of geometrical parameters of the model and the operating parameters on the dynamic and thermal behavior of the air are analyzed.