Optimal Position of Rectangular Vortex Generator for Heat Transfer Enhancement in a Flat-Plate Channel

Author(s):  
Tariq Amin Khan ◽  
Wei Li ◽  
Zhengjiang Zhang ◽  
Jincai Du ◽  
Sadiq Amin Khan ◽  
...  

Heat transfer is a naturally occurring phenomenon which can be greatly enhanced by introducing longitudinal vortex generators (VGs). As the longitudinal vortices can potentially enhance heat transfer with small pressure loss penalty, VGs are widely used to enhance the heat transfer of flat-plate type heat exchangers. However, there are few researches which deal with its thermal optimization. Three dimensional numerical simulations are performed to study the effect of angle of attack and attach angle (angle between VG and wall) of vortex generator on the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics of a flat-plate channel. The flow is assumed as steady state, incompressible and laminar within the range of studied Reynolds numbers (Re = 380, 760, 1140). In the present work, the average and local Nusselt number and pressure drop are investigated for Rectangular vortex generator (RVG) with varying angle of attack and attach angle. The numerical results indicate that the heat transfer and pressure drop increases with increasing the angle of attack to a certain range and then decreases with increasing angle of attack. Moreover, the attach angle also plays an importance role; a 90° attach angle is not necessary for enhancing the heat transfer. Usually, heat transfer enhancement is achieved at the expense of pressure drop penalty. To find the optimal position of vortex generator to obtain maximum heat transfer and minimum pressure drop, the data obtained from numerical simulations are used to train a BRANN (Bayesian-regularized artificial neural network). This in turn is used to drive multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) to find the optimal parameters of VGs in the form of Pareto front. The optimal values of these parameters are finally presented.

2002 ◽  
Vol 124 (6) ◽  
pp. 1158-1168 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. C. Gentry ◽  
A. M. Jacobi

Using delta wings placed at the leading edge of a flat plate, streamwise vortices are generated that modify the flow; the same wings are also used to modify a developing channel flow. Local and average measurements of convection coefficients are obtained using naphthalene sublimation, and the structure of the vortices is studied using flow visualization and vortex strength measurements. The pressure drop penalty associated with the heat transfer enhancement of the channel flow is also investigated. In regions where a vortex induces a surface-normal inflow, the local heat transfer coefficients are found to increase by as much as 300 percent over the baseline flow, depending on vortex strength and location relative to the boundary layer. Vortex strength increases with Reynolds number, wing aspect ratio, and wing attack angle, and the vortex strength decays as the vortex is carried downstream. Considering the complete channel surface, the largest spatially averaged heat average heat transfer enhancement is 55 percent; it is accompanied by a 100 percent increase in the pressure drop relative to the same channel flow with no delta-wing vortex generator.


2017 ◽  
Vol 79 (7-3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohd Fahmi Md Salleh ◽  
Mazlan Abdul Wahid ◽  
Seyed Alireza Ghazanfari

Heat transfer enhancement is believed can be achieved by using vortex generator. In the past decades, many researches have been performed to investigate the effect of various vortex generator geometry and parameters including vortex generator angle of attack and height. However, less study has been conducted to investigate the influence of vortex generator length at different arrangement towards the heat transfer performance across the fin-and-tube heat exchanger (FTHE). Therefore, the effects of different strategy on the rectangular winglet vortex generator (RWVG) base length towards the thermal hydraulic performance across the FTHE were numerically investigated in this study. Two types of RWVG arrangement known as common flow down (CFD) or common flow up (CFU) arrangement were used and placed behind four rows of tube in inline arrangement. Total of 7 cases were investigated including the default RWVG, extended front and extended back for both RWVG in CFD and CFU arrangement together with FTHE without vortex generator which was set as the baseline case. The Reynolds number ranged from 500 to 900. It was found that the size of the wake region behind the RWVG contributed to the additional pressure drop penalty across the FTHE. Meanwhile, different thermal characteristics were found for different base length strategy in CFD and CFU arrangement. For RWVG arranged in CFD and CFU arrangement, the extended back case shows the highest heat transfer enhancement with 5 – 25 % and 5 – 15 % increment compared to the baseline case respectively. Based on JF factor evaluation, default RWVG in CFU arrangement provide better heat transfer enhancement than the pressure drop penalty compared to other RWVG cases with average JF factor value is 0.8. Nonetheless, none of the tested cases shows higher JF factor value than the baseline case.  


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