Comparison of CFD Simulation to Experiment for Convection Heat Transfer in an Enhanced Channel

The numerical and experimental study of heat transfer characteristics in an enhanced channel with turbulent flow is presented. Numerical computations have been done for a periodic element of the channel with periodically fully developed flow using a commercial finite element code. The main objective of this study was to use computational fluid dynamics to obtain convection heat transfer coefficients with air as the fluid. Numerical predictions were compared with experimental results, and a reasonably good agreement was found between the two. It is shown that the channel investigated in this study improves the convection heat transfer coefficient. For high Reynolds number flow conditions, Nusselt numbers in this channel exceeded those in the parallel plate channel by approximately 220%.

Acknowledgments

This research was supported under a research grant from Sakarya University (No. 2000/017).