Finite volume simulation for convective heat transfer in wavy channels

Abstract

The convective heat transfer characteristics for a periodic wavy channel have been investigated experimentally and numerically. Finite volume method was used in numerical study. Experiment results are used for validation the numerical results. Studies were conducted for air flow conditions where contact angle is 30 degrees, and uniform heat flux 616 W/m(2) is applied as the thermal boundary conditions. Reynolds number (Re) is varied from 2000 to 11,000 and Prandtl number (Pr) is taken 0.7. Nusselt number (Nu), Colburn factor (j), friction factor (f) and goodness factor (j/f) against Reynolds number have been studied. The effects of the wave geometry and minimum channel height have been discussed. Thus, the best performance of flow and heat transfer characterization was determined through wavy channels. Additionally, it was determined that the computed values of convective heat transfer coefficients are in good correlation with experimental results for the converging diverging channel. Therefore, numerical results can be used for these channel geometries instead of experimental results.