Effect of Corner Modification on Forced Convection and Properties of Flowing Fluid Past Static Equilateral Triangular Prism at Various Reynolds Numbers

Abstract

This paper demonstrates the 2D numerical investigation to determine outcome of corner modification on the heat transfer and flow parameters of fluid flowing past static equilateral triangular prism. For this purpose, the corners are modified in such a way that 1/8 of the side length of prism is chamfered and rounded. Prism is placed in incompressible flow in such a way that one of its vertices is facing the upstream. Flow velocity varies as Reynolds number range from 50 to 150 with an increment of 20. Drag and lift coefficients are sensitive to corner profile of prism. At Re of 110, rounding caused a maximum of 6.5% and 12.6% reduction is observed after chamfering the corners of prism. Increasing Re caused Root mean square value of lift coefficient (CLRMS) to increase. At Re of 150, chamfered corners increased the CLRMS by 22.3% whereas rounding enhanced it by 21.6%. Time-averaged streamlines suggested the reduction in the wake width behind the prism with increasing Re and changed corner profile. Forced convective heat transfer from sharp, rounded and chamfered prisms is discussed in terms of time and space averaged Nusselt number which enhanced by 5% after corner modification of prism. Lastly, mean spread of heat transfer coefficient over prisms is presented and discussed.

Keywords

• corner modification
• equilateral triangular prism
• rounding
• chamfering
• streamlines
• drag coefficient
• lift coefficient
• nusselt number
• surface heat transfer coefficient