Open Access

ARTICLE

Numerical Investigation of Convective Heat Transfer and Friction in Solar Air Heater with Thin Ribs

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1 VNIT, Nagpur

* Corresponding author: V. R. Kalamkar. Email: .

Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences 2018, 114(3), 295-319. https://doi.org/10.3970/cmes.2018.114.295

Abstract

The three-dimensional numerical investigation of an incompressible flow through rib roughened solar air heater is carried out. A combination of thin transverse and truncated ribs is attached on the absorber plate to study its effect on the heat transfer and friction factor. The parameters in the form of Reynolds number (Re) of 4000-16000, relative roughness pitch (P/e) of 8-18 and relative roughness height (e/Dh) of 0.0366-0.055 is considered for the analysis. The CFD code ANSYS FLUENT is used to solve the governing equations of turbulent flow. The RNG k–ε turbulence model is used to solve the transport equations with enhanced wall treatment, keeping the Y+< 1. The maximum enhancement ratio of the Nusselt number and friction factor obtained is 1.91 and 3.61 respectively. The detailed investigation on average heat transfer, friction factor and flow structures have been discussed.

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Keywords

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