i

Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Objective 1.2 Organization of thesis Chapter 2 Heat Exchangers 2.1 Preface 2.2 Basic Classification 2.2.1 Regenerative type 2.2.2 Recuperative Type 2.3 Plate heat exchanger 2.4 Heat Transfer Augmentation techniques 2.4.1 Classification of Augmentation techniques Chapter 3 Literature review 3.1 Related Work 3.2 Passive Techniques 3.3 Vortex Generators 3.4 Present Work Chapter 4 Problem Formulation 4.1 Domain 4.2 Governing Equations 4.3 Boundary Conditions Chapter 5 Solution Methodology 5.1 Grid System Used

1-4 1-2 3-4 5-16 5-7 7 7 8 8-11 12-13 13-16 17-23 17-18 18-20 20-23 23 24-32 24-27 28-31 31-32 33-39 33

ii

5.2 Solution Procedure Chapter 6 Results and Discussion 6.1 Flow Structure 6.2 Heat Transfer Chapter 7 Conclusions and Future Scope 7.1 Concluding remarks 7.2 Scope for the future work Chapter 8 References

34-37 40-45 40-41 42-45 46-48 46-47 47-48 49-53

iii

LIST OF FIGURES

Fig. 3.1

Basis of classification in Heat exchangers (Courtesy: Heat exchanger Design By, SHAH. R. K)...............................................9

Fig. 3.2 Fig. 3.3

A common plate-fin heat exchanger..............................................10 Fin geometries for plate-fin heat exchangers: (a) plain triangular fin, (b) plain rectangular fin, (c) wavy fin, (d) offset strip fin, (e) multilouver fin, and (f) perforated fin............................................11

Fig. 4.1 Fig 4.2

Rectangular Channel considered for the present study..................24 Computational domain of problem with single pair of rectangular winglet type vortex generators at X = 2.66....................................25

Fig 4.3

Top view of the bottom surface of the channel with a pair of rectangular winglet.........................................................................26

Fig 4.4

Computational domain of problem with double pair of rectangular winglet type vortex generators at X = 2.66 and X = 4.2................26

Fig 4.5

Top view of the bottom surface of the channel with a double pair of rectangular winglet.................................................27

Fig 4.6 Fig. 5.1 Fig. 5.2

Rectangular winglet geometry.......................................................27 Staggered Grid Arrangement.........................................................33 Flow Chart for the solution procedure...........................................39

iv

Fig. 6.1

Cross-stream velocity vectors at different locations along stream wise direction at X =2.66, X = 3.08, X = 3.50, X = 3.98...............41

Fig. 6.2

Cross-stream velocity vectors at different locations along stream wise direction at X = 4.2, X =5.04, X = 5.88, X = 7.28................41

Fig. 6.3 Fig. 6.4 Fig. 6.5

Temperature contours in lower plate.............................................43 Temperature contours in upper plate.............................................43 Variation of bulk temperature along the length of channel for plane duct, single winglet pair and inline winglet pair..................44

Fig. 6.6

Variation of combined span wise averaged nusselt number along the length..............................................................................44

Fig. 6.7

Variation of combined (Nusa / Nusa) span wise averaged Nusselt number with & without V.Gs along the axial length....................45

NOMENCLATURE
Symbols A B C Cp f h H k l m Nu Nusa p Pr Q Re T U Area Plate distance in channel Heat capacity rate Specific heat at constant pressure Friction factor Heat transfer coefficient, Height Thermal conductivity Length Mass flow rate Nusselt number Combined Span averaged nusselt number Pressure Prandtl number Heat flux Reynolds number Temperature Overall heat transfer coefficient

vi

u,v,w L VG RWLVG

Cartesian velocity components Length Vortex generator Rectangular winglet longitudinal vortex generator

Greek Letters Subscripts b In x w Bulk Inlet Local wall Angle of VGs Difference Effectiveness, Heat exchanger efficiency Efficiency Roughness Dynamic viscosity Kinematic viscosity Density Non dimensionalised temperature

vii

ABSTRACT
The study presents the analysis of laminar flow heat transfer in a channel flow with double row inline rectangular winglet type vortex generators. This study explores one of the means by which the heat transfer performance of a channel flow can be enhanced. The main focus of the study is to investigate the influence of vortex generators in a channel flow. After a brief review of the basic methods used to enhance the heat transfer by simultaneous increase of heat transfer surface area as well as the heat transfer coefficient, a simple analytical method of heat transfer enhancement is presented. The method is demonstrated on a rectangular channel and double pair inline rectangular winglets, wherein the rectangular winglets were considered as elements for the heat transfer enhancement. The Reynolds number used is moderately low with value of 200. The length of channel can be reduced significantly through enhancement of heat transfer from winglet surfaces. The enhancement strategy involves introduction of strong swirling motion in the flow field. These swirls are generated by the longitudinal vortices. In this study, the longitudinal vortices are mounted on the lower plate of the channel. An element of the channel has been considered for detailed study of the flow structure and heat transfer analysis. The computations are first carried for a fully developed flow without any winglet and then with single row of winglet pair mounted in the fin surface and finally on a double row inline winglet pair. When the fluid flows past a vortex generator, longitudinal vortices are generated due to pressure difference between the front end and rear end of the winglet. Here front end of vortex generator means the edge facing the flow. These longitudinal vortices are developed along the edge of the winglet. These stream wise vortices interact with an otherwise two dimensional boundary layer and produce a three

viii

dimensional swirling flow that mixes the fluid near to wall with the free stream. This mechanism strongly enhances the exchange of fluid between the wall and flow field, which brings about significant enhancement in the heat transfer. The flow is considered to be laminar as the spacing is small and mean velocity is such that Reynolds number under investigation is small and below critical value.

1
Introduction
1.1 OBJECTIVE There are almost no industrial fields in which channel flows are not applied. A very common example is a simple plate-fin heat exchanger. The design of the heat exchanger influences greatly the design of the entire system or process in which they are applied. Many factors influence the design of a heat exchanger or simply a channel flow, but the most important ones are the heat transfer rate, pumping power required to run the fluid in channel, volume required, weight and production costs. Depending on the application, some of the above factors may have priority but in general the first factors that have to be considered are heat transfer rate, power input and volume. With the exception of a few cases, usually in all kinds of processes high heat transfer rate and small pressure drop within a small volume are required. Particular care in consideration of these three factors is required for processes containing gas streams or gas and liquid streams separated by solid walls. In any such form, the heat is transferred by all three basic forms: conduction, convection and radiation simultaneously. The intensity of heat conduction is not a challenging problem as; usually it can be controlled by the material chosen to build the channel. Further, radiation is of less concern for heat exchange devices operating under moderate temperatures,

whereas the intensity of the heat transferred by the convection is the dominant problem particularly on the gas side for the design of the heat exchange device. Based on Newtons law of cooling, convective heat transfer can be calculated as the product of the heat transfer coefficient, heat transfer surface area and temperature difference between the wall and fluid. The formula for Rate of Convective Heat Transfer is: q = hA(Ts Tb) ---------------1.1

Where A is the surface area of heat transfer. Ts is the surface temperature and Tb is the bulk temperature. However Tb varies with each situation and h is the constant heat transfer coefficient which depends upon physical properties of the fluid such as temperature and the physical situation in which convection occurs. Therefore, the heat transfer coefficient must be derived or found experimentally for every system analyzed. Formulae and correlations are available in many references to calculate heat transfer coefficients for typical configurations and fluids. For laminar flows, the heat transfer coefficient is rather low compared to the turbulent flows, this is due to turbulent flows having a thinner stagnant fluid film layer on heat transfer surface. The wall to fluid temperature difference is usually adjusted oneself based on the operating conditions and therefore it cannot be used to enhance the heat transfer rate. Hence in order to achieve a high heat transfer rate, one can increase the heat transfer surface area or the heat transfer coefficient, or both of them simultaneously. It is well known that fins in the form of rectangular & triangular strips or wavy fins provide both a heat transfer surface area increase and heat transfer coefficient increase. Therefore, these are particularly effective in obtaining high heat transfer rates. The mechanism which leads to high heat transfer coefficients of such fins is the periodic interruption of the boundary layer around the fins. Otherwise the heat transfer surface area increase is achieved by adding disturbances or protrusions

on the surface of fins, called as vortex generators. Hence they may be considered as a special kind of interrupted fins, although they are not obtained by cutting of continuous fins such as in the case of louvered fins. The study and numerical calculation of the heat transfer enhancement obtained by employing such vortex generators is the first objective of the present work and second is to investigate the fluid flow establishment in the channel flow.

2
Heat Exchangers
2.1 PREFACE A heat exchanger is a device to provide for transfer of internal thermal energy (enthalpy) between two or more fluids, between a solid surface and a fluid, or between solid particulate and a fluid, in thermal contact without external heat and work interactions. The fluids may be single, compounds or mixtures. Typical applications involve heating or cooling of a fluid stream of concern, evaporation or condensation of single or multi component fluid stream, and heat recovery or heat rejection from a system. In other applications, the objective may be to sterilize, pasteurize, fractionate, distill, concentrate, crystallize, or control process fluid. In some heat exchangers, the fluids transferring heat are in direct contact. In other heat exchangers, heat transfer between fluids takes place through a separating wall or into and out of a wall in a transient manner. In many heat exchangers, the fluids are separated by a heat transfer surface, and ideally they do not mix or leak. Such exchangers are referred to as direct transfer type, or simply recuperators. In contrast, exchangers in which there is intermittent heat exchange between the hot and cold fluids via thermal energy storage and release through the exchanger surface or matrix are referred to as indirect transfer type, or simply regenerators. Such exchangers usually have

fluid leakage from one fluid stream to the other. Common examples of heat exchangers are shell-and tube exchangers, automobile radiators, condensers, evaporators, air pre-heaters, electronic heat sinks and cooling towers etc. If no phase change occurs in any of the fluids in the exchanger, it is sometimes referred to as a sensible heat exchanger. There could be internal thermal energy sources in the exchangers, such as in electric heaters and nuclear fuel elements. Combustion and chemical reaction may take place within the exchanger, such as in boilers, fired heaters, and fluidized-bed exchangers. Mechanical devices may be used in some exchangers such as in scraped surface exchangers, agitated vessels, and stirred tank reactors. Heat transfer in the separating wall of a recuperator generally takes place by conduction. However, in a heat pipe heat exchanger, the heat pipe not only acts as a separating wall, but also facilitates the transfer of heat by condensation, evaporation, and conduction of the working fluid inside the heat pipe. A heat exchanger consists of heat transfer elements such as a core or matrix containing the heat transfer surface, and fluid distribution elements such as headers, manifolds, tanks, inlet and outlet nozzles or pipes, or seals. Usually, there are no moving parts in a heat exchanger; however, there are exceptions, such as a rotary regenerative exchanger (in which the matrix is mechanically driven to rotate at some design speed) or a scraped surface heat exchanger. The heat transfer surface is a surface of the exchanger core that is in direct contact with fluids and through which heat is transferred by conduction. The portion of the surface that is in direct contact with both the hot and cold fluids and transfers heat between them is referred to as the primary or direct surface. To increase the heat transfer area, appendages may be intimately connected to the primary surface to provide an extended, secondary, or indirect surface. These extended surface elements are referred to as fins. Thus, heat is conducted through the fin and convected (and/or radiated)

from the fin (through the surface area) to the surrounding fluid, or vice versa, depending on whether the fin is being cooled or heated. As a result, the addition of fins to the primary surface reduces the thermal resistance on that side and thereby increases the total heat transfer from the surface for the same temperature difference. Fins may form flow passages for the individual fluids but do not necessarily separate the two (or more) fluids of the exchanger. These secondary surfaces or fins may also be introduced primarily for structural strength purposes or to provide thorough mixing of a highly viscous liquid. Not only are heat exchangers often used in the process, power, petroleum, transportation, air-conditioning, refrigeration, cryogenic, heat recovery, alternative fuel, and manufacturing industries, they also serve as key components of many industrial products available in the marketplace. These exchangers can be classified in many different ways as shown in Fig 2.1 (Courtesy: Heat exchanger Design by Shah.R.K.). Although there are a number of ways in which the heat exchangers can be classified as discussed, but we shall discuss only related to our topic. 2.2 BASIC CLASSIFICATION

2.2.1 Regenerative type These heat exchangers have a single set of flow channels through a relatively solid massive matrix. The hot and the cold fluid pass through the matrix alternately. When the hot fluid is passing (called the Hot Blow) heat is transferred form the fluid to heat the matrix. Later when the cold fluid passes

through (called the Cold Blow), heat is transferred from the matrix to the fluid and the fluid cools.

2.2.2 Recuperative type It is equipped with separate flow conduits for each fluid. The fluid flows simultaneously through the heat exchanger in separate paths & heat is transferred from hot to the cold fluid across the walls of the flow section. 2.3 PLATE-FIN HEAT EXCHANGERS

This type of exchanger has corrugated fins (usually having triangular and rectangular cross sectional shapes) sandwiched between parallel plates (referred to as plates or parting sheets), as shown in Fig. 3.1 .

Fig. 2.1 Basis of classification in heat exchangers (Shah R.K: Heat Exchanger Design. 2003)

Sometimes fins are incorporated in a flat tube with rounded corners (referred to as a formed tube), thus eliminating a need for the side bars. If liquid or phase-

change fluid flows on the other side, the parting sheet usually is replaced by a

Fig. 2.2 A compact plate-fin heat exchanger flat tube with or without inserts/webs (Fig.3.2). A number of other plate-fin configurations are also used depending on the requirement. Fins are die or rollformed and are attached to the plates by brazing, soldering, adhesive bonding, welding, or extrusion. Fins may be used on both sides in gas-to-gas heat exchangers. In gas-to-liquid applications, fins are usually used only on the gas side; if employed on the liquid side, they are used primarily for structural strength and flow mixing purposes. Fins are also sometimes used for pressure containment and rigidity. Plate-fins are categorized as

1. Plain and straight fins such as plain triangular and rectangular fins.

2. Plain but wavy fins (wavy in the main fluid flow direction), and 3. Interrupted fins such as offset strip, louver, and perforated.

Fig 2.3 Fin geometries for plate-fin heat exchangers: (a) plain triangular fin, (b) plain rectangular fin, (c) wavy fin, (d) offset strip fin, (e) multi louver fin, and (f) perforated fin. Examples of commonly used fins are shown in Fig.2.3. Plate-fin exchangers are manufactured in virtually all shapes and sizes and are made from a variety of materials. Plate-fin exchangers are widely used in electric power plants (gas turbine, steam, nuclear, fuel cell), propulsive power plants (automobile, truck, airplane),

thermodynamic cycles (heat pump, refrigeration), and in electronics, cryogenics, gas-liquefaction, air-conditioning, and waste heat recovery systems.

3
Literature Review
3.1 RELATED WORK Most of the up-and-coming research efforts in heat transfer are devoted to analyzing the flow fields and performances of various heat exchangers. The development of high-performance thermal systems has also stimulated interest in methods to improve heat transfer. As discussed in the preceded pages; the study of improved heat transfer performance is referred to as heat transfer enhancement, augmentation, or intensification. A great deal of research effort has been devoted to developing apparatus and performing experiments to define the conditions under which an enhancement technique will improve heat (and mass) transfer. A substantial amount of research papers are available in the area of heat transfer enhancement; both in form of experimental results and numerical investigations. Over 5000 technical publications, excluding patents and manufacturers' literature, are listed in a bibliographic report by Bergles et al. (1995). The most effective and feasible techniques have graduated from the laboratory to full-scale industrial use. The bibliography mentioned above includes citations dating from more than 30 years ago and is organized into several different enhancement techniques categories as discussed in the Chapter 2 of this report. The main objective of this chapter is to survey some of the

passive techniques to enhance the heat transfer and to list down the literature pertinent to use of longitudinal vortex generators (also referred to as wings or winglets) in the heat exchangers; thus providing basis for the thesis report. The category in which the plate - fin heat exchangers with vortex generators belongs to is extended surfaces since the fins are enlarging the heat transfer area and the effect of the vortex generator is that it extends the surface and generates vortices causing enhanced heat transfer. There are several existing heat exchangers that already do this and it is the aim of this section to look at a couple of these heat exchangers. With the large amount of literature in the field, it is clearly impossible to cite more than representative studies. Wherever possible, correlations for thermal and hydraulic performance will be presented, or key sources of design data will be suggested. 3.2 PASSIVE TECHNIQUES

It is already clear that the primary interest of this work is to enhance the heat transfer in the plate - fin heat exchanger with the help of vortex generators in the flow field. With this aim we would like to study different investigations related to heat transfer enhancement suitable for application cited above. Investigations of heat transfer enhancement in channel flows where the rate of heat transfer between the fluid and channel walls keeps diminishing due to growth of boundary layer as the flow gets fully developed, is of special interest here. Surface protrusions in channel surface destabilize hydrodynamic boundary layer and disrupt the thermal boundary layer and thereby enhance heat transfer between the flowing fluid and channel walls. Applications of such flow configurations are found in heat transfer between the gas and fin in case of gasliquid fin tube cross flow heat exchanger and heat transfer between the flowing fluid and plates in the case of fin-plate heat exchangers. Literature also shows

few other methods to enhance the heat transfer in plate-fin heat exchangers such as the use of multi louvered fins, offset fins and wavy fins. These fin geometries also disturb the evolution towards a fully developed flow. A detailed performance data of louvered fins is provided by Achaichia and Cowell (1988). However in louvered and offset fins the heat transfer enhancement is obtained on the price of high pressure drop, which is not desirable. To take care of that, protrusion in the form of slender wings or winglets can be mounted on the channel surface. Offset strip fins heat exchangers are used as evaporators in the refrigeration and air conditioning industry as specified by Carey (1985). Rowley and Patankar (1984) discussed in their study that wings cause a recirculating flow between two successive fins. Kelkar and Patankar (1990) stated enhanced heat transfer is obtained due to the VGs preventing the flow from becoming fully developed and the restarting of the boundary layer which produces higher heat transfer. Pin-Fins heat exchangers have an array of small cylindrical fins, which are closely spaced and are used to cool electronic equipment as per Sparrow and Grannis (1991) and Ledezma et al. (1996). Another application of pin fins heat exchangers is the cooling of computers and instrumentation of aircrafts, courtesy of Jubran et al. (1993). Pin fins are not only used in electronic applications, but also in the internal cooling of gas turbine blades, fact investigated by You and Chang (1997). Another paper on inter fin shapes was presented by Bejan and Morega (1993) and was aimed to optimize pin fin configuration at several gap clearance ratios. It was found that square or equilateral triangular arrangements of pin fin arrays were the most efficient. The research also found that staggered arrangement of the arrays gave a better heat transfer rate than in- line configurations. The above articles represent only a part of the different enhanced heat exchanger configurations. Various other examples are available in literature such as: twisted tape inserts can be placed

inside tubes as concluded by Royal and Bergles (1978) to increase the heat transfer. Other types of enhanced heat exchangers are the plate- fin arrangement as presented by Xiao et al. (1992), Krishna prakas (1996), & Tagliafico and Tanda (1996) and the louvered fin compact heat exchanger configuration shown by Atkinson et al, (1998). A popular fin pattern for heat transfer enhancement is the wavy fin configuration investigated by Wang et al. (1999) and Tsai et al. (1999). In their paper Wang et al. (1999) derived correlations for the airside performance of a wavy fin heat exchanger by using 27 samples. A generalized heat transfer coefficient and friction factor was proposed that was within 15% of the sample data. While the previous paper used experimental data, the paper by Tsai et al. (1999) used a numerical method (computational fluid dynamics) to design a heat exchanger with enhanced heat transfer. 3.3 VORTEX GENERATORS

Detailed investigations of enhancement potential of vortex generators have been carried out in last two decades by Fiebig et al. (1986), Turk and Junkhan (1986), Eibeck and Eaton (1986), Fiebig et al. (1989), Zhang (1989), Yanagihara and Torii (1990), Fiebig et al. (1991), Tigglebeck et al. (1992), Biswas et al. (1994), and Valencia (1996). The idea of using vortex generators is also used in industries and not only confined to the research and study. Transverse vortex generators such as, ribs and corrugations in channels have been in use for last decade or so. Their configuration is such that axes are transverse to the primary flow direction. However the concept of using wings and winglets is relatively newer and the major difference lies in the position. The axes of longitudinal vortices are along the main flow direction. The investigations till date have shown better results of longitudinal vortex generators as compared to the transverse ones both in the case of heat transfer enhancement and flow losses.

The longitudinal vortices along the side edges of the wing shaped vortex generator appear due to pressure difference between the front surface facing the flow and the back side surface. In any channel, these vortices can be made to disturb the growth of thermal boundary layer by mixing fluid from near wall region and core of channel. They can serve the purpose of heat transfer enhancement with less pressure loss penalty. The enhancement in heat transfer is caused by the mixing induced by these vortices, of the mid-stream and the boundary layer fluids which cause steeper temperature gradients to develop near the wall. The application of longitudinal vortex generators for producing vortices to control the boundary layer growth is a well known phenomenon in aviation and these vortices find prominent use in aircraft industry. The study of stream wise longitudinal vortices behind a slender aerodynamic object is a research topic of much interest for many years. Hummel and Srinivasan (1967) have made important contribution in revealing the complex flow structure behind a delta wing. They have conducted experiments and presented pressure distribution and vortex structure of the flow around a delta wing of unit aspect ratio with an angle of attack 20 degrees. Fiebig et al. (1986), and Tigglebeck et al. have also carried out experimental investigations for augmentation of heat transfer by means of longitudinal vortices. Fiebig et al. (1986) in their experimental study compared the performance of different kinds of vortex generators in the Reynolds number range of 1360 and 2270. Their observation shows that the delta wing is the best vortex generator from the heat transfer point of view. One another point that they found was heat transfer coefficient increases with the increase in angle of attack till the vortex break down takes place. Tigglebeck et al. (1992) used multiple rows of vortex generators in an aligned arrangement within a channel and observed their influence on the flow structure. They found that the flow structure in the wake of the second row has

similar qualitative characteristics to that of the first row. They also observed that the peak value of the span wise averaged Nusselt number at the location of the wake of second row is strongly dependent on the spacing between the two rows. Fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics through a parallel plate channel with transverse ribs, which act as vortex generators, have been investigated by Webb and Ramadhayani (1985). Significant heat transfer enhancement is obtained in their study. Even positioning of vortex generators at key locations in the flow has its influence on enhancement of heat transfer as stated by Myrum et al. (1992). Fiebig et al. in their investigatory study stated that, the vortex generators are special surfaces that are used to generate secondary flow or vortices by swirling and destabilizing the flow. In addition, these vortices have a tendency to last for a long period, allowing an influence on heat transfer over long and narrow regions. The vortex generators can generate transverse or longitudinal vortices depending upon the geometry and angle of attack of the vortex generators. The axis of the transverse vortices (also called as spanwise or primary vortices) is perpendicular to the main flow direction. These types of vortices are generated from flow separation and unstable shear layers, and the flow can remain two-dimensional. The karman vortex street in the wake of bluff bodies viz. circular and rectangular cylinders, is one known example of transverse vortices as studied by Sohankar et al. (1999) and Sohankar et al. (2000). In yet another study Sohankar and Davidson (2001) have numerically investigated the effect of inclined vortex generators on heat transfer enhancement in a three dimensional channel. They have confirmed that the downwash of the secondary flow induced by vortex generators increases mixing of cold and hot fluid and enhances the heat transfer. They also showed that when thicker vortex generators are used stronger and bigger streamwise vortices are formed downstream, which gives rise to the higher Nusselt number. It had

already been suggested by the conclusions made by Fiebig et al. that in general, longitudinal vortices are more efficient than transverse vortices for heat transfer enhancement as compared to the transverse ones. Gupta et al. (2009) have shown longitudinal vortices have a great capability of disrupting the growth of boundary layers and bring about the heat transfer enhancement between the fluid and its neighboring surface. The potential of a winglet pair type vortex generator for the heat transfer enhancement in a plate - fin heat exchanger, with triangular fins as inserts, is numerically evaluated in their research study. In the study carried by them rectangular winglet pair is mounted on the triangular fins. A very recent study has been shown by Wu & Tao (2009). Their study presents numerical computation results on laminar convection heat transfer in a rectangular channel with a pair of rectangular winglets longitudinal vortex generator punched out from the lower wall of the channel. The effect of the punched holes and the thickness of the rectangular winglet pair to the fluid flow and heat transfer are numerically studied. It is found that the case with punched holes has more heat transfer enhancement in the region near to the vortex generator and lower average flow frictional coefficient compared with the case without punched holes. 3.4 PRESENT WORK

In the present study numerical computations are performed for understanding the flow structure and heat transfer effects using double row inline RWLVGs at Re=200.The comparison of the rectangular channel mounted with a single row of rectangular winglets, and a double row of inline rectangular winglets and channel without winglet is done at Re=200. The fundamental governing equation i.e. Navier Stroke equation for incompressible three dimensional laminar flow viz. continuity, momentum and energy equations is considered in

non dimensional conservative form. Modified MAC Algorithm is used to obtain the numerical solution of governing equation.

4
Problem Formulation
The solution is obtained by solving the three-dimensional, unsteady, Navier Stokes equations and energy equation for an incompressible fluid. Hydro dynamically and thermally developing flow is considered. The leading edge of the rectangular vortex generator is attached at a distance of 2.66H along the flow stream. The rectangular vortex generators considered are of dimensions: (height h=0.4666H and length L = 0.98H). The final calculations and hence the conclusions are made by considering a channel flow with or without a single row winglet pair of mounted rectangular winglets and finally with a double row inline pair of rectangular winglets with angle of attack = 28.7 degrees. The location and other dimensions of the winglets have been shown in Fig. 4.2 to Fig 4.6.

Fig 4.2 Computational domain of problem with single pair of rectangular winglet type vortex generators at X = 2.66

Fig 4.3 Top view of the bottom surface of the channel with a pair of rectangular winglet

Fig 4.4 Computational domain of problem with double pair of rectangular winglet type vortex generators at X = 2.66 and X = 4.2

X=4.2

Fig 4.5 Top view of the bottom surface of the channel with a double pair of rectangular winglet

Fig 4.6 Rectangular winglet geometry

6
Results and Discussions
The computation are carried out in rectangular channel of length L at Reynolds number, Re = 200 with inline double row longitudinal vortex generators at an angle of attack = 28.7. The velocity and temperature profile of the laminar channel flow with LVG in the form of rectangular winglet pair has been computed. The comparison between the single row rectangular winglet pair, double row inline rectangular winglet pair and plain channel has been predicted with the help of flow structure and heat transfer. 6.1 FLOW STRUCTURE The secondary flow pattern along and behind the single pair of rectangular winglet and double pair of rectangular winglet, is shown in the Fig. 6.1 & Fig. 6.2. Cross stream velocity vectors at different locations along streamwise direction show the generation of the vortices, their gradual deformation and decrease in their strength as they move downstream in the channel. The deformation of the vortical structure due to the channel walls can be seen when the downstream of the winglets are compared. Two counter-rotating main vortices behind the winglets cause the fluid to churn. This churning motion causes the fluid near the wall to flow in the central region and vice versa. The

churning motion brings the hotter fluid at the walls to the mid region and increases the core temperature.

Fig 6.1. Cross-stream velocity vectors at different locations along stream wise direction at X =2.66, X = 3.08, X = 3.50, X = 3.98

Fig 6.2 Cross-stream velocity vectors at different cross sections. At X= 4.2, X = 5.04, X = 5.88, X = 7.28 6.2 HEAT TRANSFER The higher temperature gradients at the wall leads to higher heat transfer rates. In order to obtain a quantitative estimate of the heat transfer performance, the local Nusselt number contours for the lower and upper plates are plotted. Nusselt number at a point (x, z) on plate is defined as:
T H hH Y w Nu = = k Tw Tb

---------------6.1

Where Tb is the bulk temperature at a particular x location. Fig 6.3 & 6.4 show the heat transfer rate from bottom plate is more in the central portion as compared to that at the side array-symmetry walls. And for the top plate the heat transfer rate is lesser in the central portion as compared to that at the side array-symmetry walls. It is observed that as the fluid stream moves along the axial direction, there is an increase in bulk temperature because of the mixing of the fluid due to formation of vortices in case of a rectangular winglet and winglet pair. In order to quantify the heat transfer performance, the combined span wise nusselt number can be computed by taking the average of the local nusselt number along the periphery of the rectangular channel. The variation of Nusa along the axis is shown in Fig. 6.6. The nusselt number is high in the entrance region, the real effect is seen behind the vortex region. The Figure shows that Nusa for the double pair of winglet is more at any axial location behind the trailing edge of the obstacle than single pair of winglets or the channel without winglet. So the heat transfer enhancement of a double inline rectangular winglet pair is more than a single pair of winglet and plain duct. Fig.

6.5, 6.6 & 6.7 shows the variation of Nusselt number and bulk temperature with winglet pairs. Though heat transfer from top and bottom plates is of practical interest, the variations of Nusselt number on the surfaces of winglet are shown for the sake of completeness.

1.6

1.4 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30

1.2

1.0

0.8

Y Data

0.6

0.4

0.2

Fig 6.3 Nusselt number contours in lower plate with double inline winglet pair.

1.6

1.4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30

1.2

1.0

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

Fig 6.4 Nusselt number contours for upper plate

0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 X Non Dimensional Length Single Winglet Pair Inline Winglet Pair Plane Channel

Fig 6.5 Variation of bulk temperature along the length of channel for plane duct, single winglet pair and inline winglet pair

NUsa

NUsa Combined Spanwise average Nusselt

35 30 25
number

Plane Channel Single Winglet Pair Inline double winglet pair

20 15 10 5 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
X Non dimensional Length

Fig 6.6

Variation of combined span wise averaged nusselt number along the length.

Nusa(Winglet)/NUsa(Plane Duct)

3 Single Winglet Pair Inline Winglet Pair Plane Duct

2.5

1.5

0.5 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 X N Dim on ensional Length

Fig 6.7 Variation of combined (Nusa / Nusa0) span wise averaged nusselt number with & without V.Gs along the axial length.

7
Conclusions and Future Scope
7.1 CONCLUDING REMARKS In this problem a numerical study on laminar heat transfer in the channel with rectangular winglet vortex generator pairs is carried out. The flow structure and mechanism of the heat transfer augmentation by the RWLVGs is discussed and presented. The following conclusions are obtained during and after the completion of the project. 1. Based on the results of this study, it is observed that when the vortex generators are exposed to the main flow, due to pressure difference between two sides of vortex generator, flow separation occurs and longitudinal vortices are generated. 2. These vortices detach from the vortex generators and form counterrotating vortex pairs downstream of the vortex generators. One of the vortices rotates in clockwise and the other in the counter-clockwise direction. 3. The shape and the distance between the cores of the longitudinal vortices change as these vortices move downstream of the vortex generators. It is also observed that the cross section of the vortices change from a circular

Conclusions and Future Scope

31

shape close to the vortex generators to an elliptic shape far from the vortex generators. 4. There are strong interactions between the longitudinal vortices and the boundary layer on the walls of the channel, especially the lower wall. These interactions affect the structure of the velocity or the thermal boundary layer by thinning it in the downwash region and thickening it in the up-wash region on the lower wall while the opposite trend occurs on the upper wall. 5. The VGs greatly influence the heat transfer of the region near the RWLVGs and has their effect in the surrounding area also. The combined spanwise average Nusselt number of the whole channel with RWLVGs is higher than that without RWLVGs. 6. It is clearly visible from the Nusselt number plots and bulk temperature plot that the heat transfer rates have increased in the case of single and double row inline rectangular vortex generators as compared to the plane channel. In the case of double inline V.G.s the results are even better than single row winglet pair. 7.2 SCOPE FOR THE FUTURE WORK

The results of this work reveal that the rectangular winglet vortex generators in a plate-fin heat exchanger with the configuration explained above is a functional method for improving heat transfer in the air cooled processes. These configurations can be used in various applications including condensers for geothermal power plants, chemical industries, process industries and automobiles. Further the concept can be presented in plate-fin & tube heat exchangers with circular and oval shaped tubes. Here the computations have

Conclusions and Future Scope

32

been done assuming flow regime to be laminar. Though turbulent flow is not frequently encountered in plate-fin or fin tube heat exchangers, some special applications involving very high velocities, the flow regime can become turbulent. Therefore the present study can be extended for the turbulent flows also. Using an appropriate turbulence model, the performance of the proposed design can be compared for higher Reynolds numbers.

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