Thermal Performance of Angled, V-Shaped, and W-Shaped Rib Turbulators in Rotating Rectangular Cooling Channels (AR=4:1)

Abstract

An experimental study was performed to measure the heat transfer distributions and frictional losses in rotating ribbed channels with an aspect ratio of 4:1. Angled, discrete angled, V-shaped, and discrete V-shaped ribs were investigated, as well as the newly proposed W-shaped and discrete W-shaped ribs. In all cases, the ribs are placed on both the leading and trailing surfaces of the channel, and they are oriented 45 deg to the mainstream flow. The rib height-to-hydraulic diameter ratio (e/D) is 0.078, and the rib pitch-to-height ratio (P/e) is 10. The channel orientation with respect to the direction of rotation is 135 deg. The range of flow parameters includes Reynolds number (Re=10,000–40,000), rotation number (Ro=0.0–0.15), and inlet coolant-to-wall density ratio (Δρ/ρ=0.12). Both heat transfer and pressure measurements were taken, so the overall performance of each rib configuration could be evaluated. It was determined that the W-shaped and discrete W-shaped ribs had the superior heat transfer performance in both nonrotating and rotating channels. However, these two configurations also incurred the greatest frictional losses while the discrete V-shaped and discrete angled ribs resulted in the lowest pressure drop. Based on the heat transfer enhancement and the pressure drop penalty, the discrete V-shaped ribs and the discrete W-shaped ribs exhibit the best overall thermal performance in both rotating and nonrotating channels. These configurations are followed closely by the W-shaped ribs. The angled rib configuration resulted in the worst performance of the six configurations of the present study.