A note on the flow and heat transfer enhancement in a channel with built-in winglet pair

Abstract

Counter rotating longitudinal vortices produced by winglet in a channel are known to enhance heat transfer. In the present investigation the flow structure and heat-transfer enhancement by a winglet pair of non-zero thickness has been studied. A delta winglet pair type vortex generator is placed in a hydrodynamically developed and thermally developing laminar channel flow. Computations are done by solving the unsteady, three-dimensional, incompressible Navier-Strokes equations and energy equation using a modified Marker-and-Cell (MAC) method. The flow structure is complex and consists of main, corner and induced vortices. It is observed that as compared to a channel without winglets, the heat transfer is enhanced by 33% when single winglet is used and by 67% when a winglet pair is employed. Effects of thickness of the winglets and Reynolds number on the heat transfer augmentation are presented.