Pressure drop and heat transferin spanwise-periodic fluted channels

Abstract

We have conducted numerical studies on the three-dimensional laminar forced convection heat transfer in a channel with spanwise-periodic fluted parts by applying the spectral element and finite difference methods. The flow field is assumed to be fully developed, while the temperature field is supposed to be developing under the fully developed velocity profile. The temperature on the plate surface is kept constant. Pressure drop, heat transfer, and correlation between them are investigated for varying configurations of the fluted channel. The nondimensional formulas with regard to the pressure drop and Nusselt number are derived for the parameters of the channel configurations. Channel efficiency, which is defined as the ratio of the heat transfer enhancement to the increase of pressure drop compared with the parallel plate channel, is studied according to the nondimensional formulas to clarify the optimum parameter range of channel configurations.