Numerical investigation of convective heat transfer and pressure drop in a corrugated heat exchanger channel

Abstract

The convective heat transfer characteristics in a periodic two-dimensional corrugated channel are investigated numerically using finite element methods. Experiments were also performed for heat transfer analysis and the results were compared with the numerical predictions. Studies were carried out for air, for the corrugation angle 20degrees and channel height is equal to the corrugation height such that all corrugation peaks lie in an in-phase arrangement and the thermal boundary condition of uniform heat flux. It was found that both the heat transfer coefficient and the pressure drop for the corrugated ducts are good arrangement with experimental results. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.