Numerical investigation of flow through an artificially roughened solar air heater

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Abstract
A numerical investigation is conducted to analyse the heat transfer and flow friction characteristics in an artificially roughened solar air heater having square-sectioned transverse ribs considered at underside of the top wall, where constant heat flux condition is applied. The effect of relative roughness pitch on average Nusselt number, average friction factor, and thermo-hydraulic performance parameter (THPP) has been investigated. This investigation covers relative roughness pitch in the range of 7.14≤P/e≤17.86 and relevant Reynolds numbers in the range of 3800≤Re≤18, 000. The two-dimensional steady, turbulent flow, and heat transfer governing equations are solved using the finite volume method with the semi-implicit method for pressure-linked equations algorithm. The THPP under the same pumping power constraint is calculated in order to examine the overall effect of the relative roughness pitch. For the present range investigated, the maximum THPP of 1.82 is achieved by the use of the ribs with P/e of 10.71.
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  • Research reported in the article was not funded by any of the listed and other funding bodies.