The angle of attack effect on thermal-hydraulic performance of a cam-shaped tube with constant heat flux in crossflow

ABSTRACT

An experimental study was performed to determine the effect of angle of attack on the thermal-hydraulic performance of a cam-shaped tube with constant heat flux in crossflow. The Reynolds number based on an equivalent diameter was in the range of 15500 < $\mathrm{R}{\mathrm{e}}_{{\mathrm{D}}_{\mathrm{e}\mathrm{q}}}$< 42000, and the angle of attack (α) varied from 0° to 180°. For the heat transfer experiments, five different heat fluxes were considered, and the results showed that in all Reynolds numbers by increasing the angle of attack, the mean Nusselt number increases about 1–6% at α = 30°, 3–9% at α = 60° and 5–11% at α = 90° compared to the Nusselt number at $\alpha =0^{\circ }.$ Besides, the drag coefficient for these angles increased 40–53%, 105–109% and 114–122%, respectively compared to $\alpha =0^{\circ }$. In all Reynolds numbers, α = 0° and 150° had the lowest drag coefficient, which was 29–55% and 27–56% lower than other angles of attack. Also, the best thermal-hydraulic performance was achieved at α = 0° and 150°.

KEYWORDS:

• Thermal-hydraulic
• constant heat flux
• cam-shaped tube
• crossflow
• angle of attack

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Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).