NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS OF HEAT AND FLUID FLOW IN GROOVED CHANNELS WITH CURVED VANES

Abstract

The use of vanes in grooved channels for heat transfer enhancement has received unprecedented attention in recent years due to applications in high-performance heat exchangers and electronics cooling. The current work focuses on characterizing the vortex formation around heated elements in grooved channels with curved vanes. A computational model is developed to examine the effect that the vortices have on heat transfer and system performance for a range of Reynolds numbers of 100 to 800. These vortices explain the previously observed characteristics in system performance for geometries with the use of curved vanes. At a Reynolds number of 400 these vortices inhibit heat transfer and increase pressure drop in the channel resulting in significant decreases in system performance. In addition, a sensitivity analysis was performed for the size and location of the baffle at a high Reynolds number of 800.

Portions of this work were supported by NASA under Cooperative Agreement NCC5-581(DLH).