Flow and Heat Transfer Characteristics of Air in Square Channel Heat Exchanger With C-Shaped Baffle: A Numerical Study

Abstract

The purpose of the present work is to study flow configuration and heat transfer behavior in a square channel heat exchanger equipped with C-shaped baffle. The influences of flow attack angle and baffle size on flow and heat transfer characteristics are considered for the laminar flow regime with the Reynolds number around 100-2000. The numerical study with finite volume method is selected for the present investigation. The SIMPLE algorithms is opted to solve the numerical problem. The numerical results are concluded in terms of flow and heat transfer mechanisms in the tested section. The thermal performance analysis; Nusselt number ratio (Nu/Nu0), friction factor (f/f0) and thermal enhancement factor (TEF), are also summarized. The numerical model of the smooth square channel is validated with the correlations on both Nusselt number and friction factor. The numbers of grid cell for the computational domain are also compared. The numerical results reveal that the C-shaped baffle in the tested section leads to the appearance of the thermal boundary layer disturbance on the channel walls that the important cause for heat transfer rate and thermal efficiency enhancements. The maximum TEF of the square duct with C-shaped baffle is around 3.89. In addition, the optimum gap spacing value for the square channel inserted with C-shaped baffle is around 5%.

CFD Analysis and Taguchi-Based Optimization of the Thermohydraulic Performance of a Solar Air Heater Duct Baffled on a Back Plate

“…The Nusselt number increased by 3.72-fold, and the pressure loss increased by 14.47-fold. Boonloi and Jedsadaratanachai [16] numerically studied square channels with C-shaped plates. This pattern was shown to increase eddies and perturbations at the thermal boundary layer, increasing the thermal effectiveness.…”

Numerical Investigations on Flow Structure and Heat Transfer in a Square Duct Equipped With Double v-Orifice

“…As the literature reviews, the advantages of the conical ring (Nakhchi and Esfahani (2019a), Nakhchi and Esfahani (2019b), Ibrahim et al (2019), Mohammed (2019), Bahiraei et al (2020c, d)) and baffle , , Wang et al (2019), Liu et al (2019), , Li et al (2019), , Chai et al (2018), Chai et al (2019), Ahmed et al (2019), Boonloi and Jedsadaratanachai (2019c)) or rib (Ameur and Menni (2019), Karami et al (2019), Cao et al (2019), Chen et al (2019), Arani and Moradi (2019), Bahiraei et al (2020a)) are focused. The prominent point of the conical ring is the convenience for the installation and maintenance, while the rib and baffle give high heat transfer rate, especially, V-shape and wavy configuration.…”