Numerical Simulations of Heat Transfer Phenomena through a Baffled Rectangular Channel

Abstract

In presence of baffle, the turbulent airflow phenomena as well as forced convective heat exchange characteristics in two-dimensional rectangular channel have been analyzed in this work. For variations in Reynolds number (Re), we have studied the variations in characteristics of thermal behavior due to the change in the shape of baffle. Computations have been done using finite volume method (FVM) and FLUENT software and the SIMPLE algorithm has been employed for solving the governing equations. Finally, the flow and thermal exchange characteristics viz., streamline flow, turbulence intensity (TE), axial velocity, turbulence kinetic energy (TKE), normalized friction factor (F), normalized average Nusselt number (Nuavg) and thermal enhancement factor (TEF) have been studied in details from numerical standpoint. It has been found that the triangular shaped baffle provides highest value of F at Re = 30,000 and at Re = 46, 000, the maximum value of the TEF is found for the same baffle implying that triangular shaped baffle is more suitable for overall purposes.

Keywords

• turbulent airflow
• fluent
• fvm
• simple algorithm
• thermal exchange characteristic