On Convective Heat Transfer and Flow Dynamics Through a Straight T-Bifurcating Channel

Abstract

Both experimental and numerical studies of a turbulent flow in a bifurcating channel are performed to characterize the dynamical behavior of the flow and its impact on the convective heat transfer on the sides of the branch. This configuration corresponds to the radial vents placed in the stator vertically to the rotor–stator air gap in the electrical machines. Indeed, our analysis focuses on the local convective heat transfer on the vents internal surface under a turbulent mass flow rate. The flow field measurements were carried out with two components particle image velocimetry (PIV) system, and the local heat transfer on the sides of the bifurcation branch was measured using an infrared thermography device. The convective heat transfer and the flow dynamics through the geometry are investigated numerically considering a three-dimensional (3D) flow. The closure system of the Navier–Stokes equations for steady and incompressible flow is based on the low-Reynolds numbers Reynolds stress model (RSM) (RSM-stress-ω). The comparison of the 3D computed results with the measurements in the xy symmetry plane is satisfactory in the vertical and horizontal channels. The numerical prediction of the secondary flow in the vertical branch was analyzed and complements the experimental results. It was particularly noticed that the accelerated flow observed at the right side of the branch's inlet allows more pronounced heat transfer comparatively to the left side. Beyond approximately 7 hydraulic diameters from the entrance of the branch, the Nusselt number curves on the two sides of the branch tend to be the same developed Nusselt number, Nud.