A Numerical Study of Heat Transfer Enhancement by a Rectangular Cylinder Placed Parallel to the Heated Wall

Abstract

The flow around a rectangular cylinder mounted in the vicinity of a hot wall is numerically studied at a Reynolds number of 200. While the cylinder chord-to-height ratio C/W is varied from 2 to 10, the gap distance G from the wall to the cylinder is changed from 0.25 to 6.25. The focus of this study is given on the dependence of G/W and C/W on the heat transfer from the wall and associated physics. The variation in the Strouhal number is presented as a function of C/W. It is observed that the effect of G/W on the vortex dynamics and heat transfer is much more than that of C/W. Based on the dependence of the vortex dynamics and heat transfer on G/W, we have identified four distinct flows: no vortex street flow (G/W < 0.75), single-row vortex street flow (0.75 ≤ G/W ≤ 1.25), inverted two-row vortex street flow (1.25 < G/W ≤ 2.5), and two-row vortex street flow (G/W > 2.5). At the single-row vortex street flow, the two opposite-sign vortices appearing in a jetlike flow carry heat from the wall to the wake and then to the freestream. The maximum heat transfer is achieved at the single-row vortex street flow and 8% increase occurs at C/W = 2, G/W = 0.75–1.25.