Sidewall Effects on Heat Transfer Coefficient in a Narrow Impingement Channel

Abstract

This paper examines the local and averaged effects of channel height in the presence of sidewalls on heat transfer coefficients, with special attention given to the sidewall behavior. High resolution local heat transfer coefficient distributions on target and sidewall surfaces were computed using temperature sensitive paint, recorded via a scientific-grade charge-coupled device camera, and compared with available literature. This is important, as many of the major correlations related to impingement channels are directly applicable to wide arrays of jets, for which the influence of the presence of sidewalls is minimal. Streamwise pressure distributions were recorded and used to explain heat transfer trends and to determine the thermal effectiveness of each channel. Results are presented for average jet-based Reynolds numbers between 17,000 and 45,000. All experiments were carried out on a large-scale single-row 15-hole impingement channel (with an X/D of 5, a Y/D of 4, and a Z/D of 1, 3 and 5). It was observed that available correlations accurately predict the target surface heat transfer coefficients when the influence of the sidewall is minimal, typically at larger channel heights and lower Reynolds numbers. Smaller channel heights tend to outperform larger channels, when considering thermal effectiveness and channel-averaged heat transfer rates, due to the increased heat transfer on the channel sidewalls.