Chemical Engineering & Technology, Vol.33, No.10, 1706-1711, 2010
CFD Study of Effects of Module Geometry on Forced Convection in a Channel with Non-Conducting Fins and Flow Pulsation
CFD simulations were carried out to investigate the effects of the module geometry on forced convection in a rectangular channel containing series of regularly spaced non-conducting baffles with flow oscillation. The simulations were performed at constant wall temperature. Steady-flow Reynolds numbers Re in the range of 200 and 600 were studied. The results of the CFD simulations show that, for the effect fin spacing to be significant on heat transfer enhancement in finned system with oscillating flow, the oscillating flow velocity must be higher than the mean flow velocity. Superposition of oscillation yields increasing heat transfer performance with increasing fin height. Fin geometry with pyramidal shape yields highest performance in terms of the heat transfer effectiveness.