Thermal Behaviors in a Square Duct with U-Ribbed Tape Inserts

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental study on thermal characteristics in a constant heat-fluxed square-duct heat exchanger with U-ribbed tape inserts. The experiments are carried out by varying airflow rate for Reynolds number ranging from 4000 to 38,000. The insertion of the U-ribbed tape is performed with an axial rib-pitch set to four times duct-height (4H) at a single attack angle, α=45° and the ribbed tape is diagonally inserted in the square duct in order to generate longitudinal vortex flows. Effects of five blockage ratios (e/H=0.1, 0.15, 0.2, 0.25 and 0.3) on heat transfer and friction loss are experimentally investigated. The experimental result shows that the insertion of the U-ribbed tape at e/H=0.3 provides the highest heat transfer and friction factor values but the one at e/H=0.25 yields the highest thermal performance enhancement.