CFD Simulation and Thermal Performance Optimization of Channel Flow with Multiple Baffles

Abstract

Channel flow with baffles is a multifaceted phenomenon with wide-ranging applications. It plays a crucial role in enhancing mixing, heat transfer, and other fluid dynamics processes. The baffles' design and placement within the channel are crucial to achieving the desired heat transfer enhancement. Based on the specific application and fluid properties, such as baffle geometry, spacing, and orientation must be considered. This work aims to visualize, evaluate, and understand the effectiveness of baffles on heat transfer rates under various operating conditions and design parameters. Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) investigations were carried out to examine the performance of channels for various geometrical configurations including Broken V-shaped, Circular, and triangular at wide operating conditions, and baffle number densities. Computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations were carried out for three different baffle shapes while the Reynolds number (Re) ranged from 1800 to 22000 and the no. of baffle sets(N), varied as N=15,20,30. At low Re conditions channel with 30 sets of Broken-V-shape baffles results in a higher Nusselt number due to effective turbulence enhancement and mixing in the channel. Although the thermal performance of a V-shaped baffles case is relatively good the friction factor is more for this case. Triangular baffles exhibited a lower friction factor. A maximum friction factor of 0.92 is observed for N=30 sets at Re= 1800 while the least of 0.76 is recorded for N=15.

Keywords

• cfd simulation
• rectangular channel
• v-shaped baffles
• turbulence