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The steady laminar fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics in the channel formed by the flat tube and the dimpled fin are investigated numerically. The results show that the dimple radius, the dimple pitch and the fin spacing affect the average Nusselt number and friction factor, while the effect of the dimple radius and the fin spacing is larger than that of the dimple pitch. The average Nusselt number, the friction factor and the intensity of secondary flow in the dimpled fin case are larger than those in the plain fin case at the same Re , respectively. The correlations of Nusselt number, the friction factor with Re and other parameters are reported. The significant result is that whenever the same intensity of secondary flow is produced by increasing the radius of the dimples or other structural parameter such as increasing the fin spacing and the dimple pitch, the same heat transfer intensity is obtained. This implies that the intensity of secondary flow determines the heat transfer characteristics on the fin surfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Galerkin spectral method has been applied to solve numerically the problem of fully developed laminar mixed convection in horizontal concentric annuli with axially uniform heat flow per unit length, uniform temperature along the periphery of the heated wall, thermal insulation on the remaining surface. Results have been obtained for PeRa values up to 10 7 , for Pr = 0.7, 5 and ∞, for inner to outer diameter ratio η = 0.2 in case of inner wall heated and for η = 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 in case of outer wall heated. Computations allow understanding the onset of secondary flows and their influence on both fluid dynamics and heat transfer. In particular, the distortion of the axial shear stress effects the reduction of the mass flow rate at a given axial pressure gradient. On the other hand, boundary layer thinning determines an increase in the Nusselt number up to a factor 2.5 on average in the investigated range as summarized by suitable correlations. Eventually, results have been compared with other numerical computations and experimental data only available for restricted ranges of the governing parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, microchannel heat sinks with symmetric and parallel wavy microchannels are studied in a wide range of Reynolds numbers from 50 to 700 via a three-dimensional fluid-solid conjugate model. The results show that the symmetric configuration yields higher Nusselt numbers than the parallel one, and it is especially true at higher Reynolds numbers and larger amplitude-to-wavelength ratios. The heat transfer enhancement can be attributed to the fact that the symmetric configuration induces four Dean vortices in the cross sections perpendicular to the flow path, whereas there are only two Dean vortices in the parallel configuration, leading to stronger coolant mixing and hence the higher Nusselt numbers in the symmetric configuration. However, because of the presence of channel throats, the symmetric configuration also achieves a significantly high pressure penalty. As a result, the overall performance of the symmetric configuration is slightly lower than that of the parallel configuration. To enhance the performance of wavy microchannel heat sinks, modified symmetric and parallel wavy configurations are proposed, in which several transverse gaps are added into ribs to connect adjacent microchannels. The results demonstrate that such a secondary branch design significantly enhances Nusselt numbers for both the parallel wavy configurations owing to the enhanced fluid mixing between adjacent microchannels. Moreover, it is found that, as compared with its original wavy configurations, secondary branches slightly increase the pressure drop across the modified parallel configuration. Thus, the overall performances are markedly enhanced for the modified parallel configurations. As expected, secondary branches greatly reduce the pressure drop across the modified symmetric configuration. Beyond expectation, the suction effect of channel throats due to secondary branches can weaken the Dean vortices in the valley vs valley regions and worsen the heat transfer performance, especially for the heat sink with larger Re and amplitude-to-wavelength ratios. As a result, the modified symmetric wavy configurations are suggested to employ with a wider gap and small amplitude-to-wavelength ratio. Generally speaking, the modified parallel wavy configuration is more dominant than the symmetric one. • Symmetric and parallel wavy microchannel heat sinks are studied numerically. • Parallel configuration shows higher Nu but larger pressure drop penalty. • Modified wavy configurations are proposed with secondary branch design. • Modified parallel configurations yield better overall performance. • Modified symmetric configuration achieves better overall performance partly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerical simulation is performed to evaluate the privilege of inserting stationary or rotating twisted tape inside a tube as a heat transfer enhancement technique. The main emphasis of this work is placed on understanding the effect of pitch distance on the hydrothermal performance of such a system. The obtained results are validated with published experimental findings. The results of numerical study shows that the heat transfer, pressure drop and total energy consumption are increased by inserting a twisted tape inside a tube. Under the stationary condition, decreasing the pitch distance results in higher Nusselt number together with more friction factor. As the twisted tape starts to rotate (RTT1 case), both Nusselt number and friction factor are further increased. However, decreasing the pitch distance from L/2 to L/6 exhibits a marginal impact on the Nusselt number and friction factor. Further increase in the angular velocity (RTT3 case), although improved the average Nusselt number, comes at the expense of much more friction factor as well as energy consumption. Considering performance evaluation criterion (PEC) as a metric to assess the interaction between heat transfer and energy consumption, it is found that rotating twisted tape is beneficial at lower Reynolds number. Among the design parameters analysed in this research, the highest PEC number of 1.5 corresponds to the case of stationary twisted tape at Reynolds number of 1000 and twisted tape pitch of L/6. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A numerical study is performed to examine the characteristics of fluid flow and convective heat transfer in a helical square duct rotating at a constant angular velocity about the center of curvature. Due to the combined effects of rotation (the Coriolis force), torsion and curvature (the centrifugal force), the flow behaviors become very complicated. A wide range of parameters is covered in this work. The variations of flow structure and temperature distribution with the force ratio F (the ratio of the Coriolis force to the centrifugal force) and the torsion are examined in details. The effects of rotation and torsion on the friction factor and Nusselt number are also studied at length. And also multiple solutions for a rotating toroidal square duct have been obtained. Certain hitherto unknown flow patterns are found. The present work shows both the nature of flow behaviors and the characteristics of heat transfer in a rotating helical square duct. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Longitudinal vortices generated by winglet type vortex generators mounted on fin surface improve fluid mixing with disruption of boundary layer growth, which results in convective heat transfer enhancement. The present study reports the three-dimensional numerical investigation of airflow through heated fin-tube heat exchangers in presence of common flow down configured rectangular winglet pairs (RWPs) for staggered arrangements of circular tubes. It is well known that the thermal performance of a fin-tube heat exchanger is majorly influenced by various locations of winglets corresponding to tube centre. Henceforth, fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics of different possible RWP locations concerning each tube are examined. Further, for higher performance, a search for an effective angle of attack ranging from 15° to 60° is also performed for optimized locations. The effect of different inlet flow conditions is also investigated for Reynolds number ranges from 2000 to 10,000. Thermohydraulic performance is studied by considering Nusselt number, friction factor, secondary flow intensity and thermal performance factor. Irreversibilities due to RWPs are analysed by calculating the entropy generation rate due to viscous and heat transfer effects. Obtained results illustrate that the selection of promising RWP locations plays a vital role in improving thermal performance. The relationship between heat transfer, secondary flow and irreversibility parameters are also reported. • Performance of staggered tube arrangement in presence of winglets is analysed. • Promising and counter-productive locations are examined by using JF. • Longitudinal and horseshoe vortices promote heat transfer enhancement. • Irreversibilities due to thermal and viscous effects are analysed. • Upstream located RWPs show higher thermal-hydraulic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the thermal-hydraulic performance in the downstream of the spacer grid in a 7 × 7 rod bundle is numerically studied. The guide tubes effects are revealed by the comparisons of the flow and heat transfer behavior in two types of rod bundles, one without guide tubes and the other with guide tubes. It is found that the cross flow diagonals are fully developed at Z = 2 D h and unable to sustain at Z = 8 D h downstream of the spacer grid. The guide tubes discontinue the cross flow diagonals and would decrease the secondary flow intensity. The downstream temperature distribution is influenced by the evolution of the secondary flow as well as the guide tubes. The non-uniformity of the temperature distribution has the lowest value at Z = 2 D h and the guide tubes would make the temperature distribution more uneven. Furthermore, the normalized Nusselt number in both fuel rod bundles reaches the peak at Z = 2 D h and then decreases consistently. However, the heat transfer can be enhanced by 15% at least because the secondary flow still exists. The normalized Nusselt numbers downstream of the spacer grid in the rod bundle with guide tubes are smaller than those without guide tubes. Overall, the guide tubes would inhibit the secondary flow and weaken the heat transfer capability downstream of the spacer grid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]