Thermal performance assessment of turbulent channel flows over different shaped ribs

Experiments are conducted to assess turbulent forced convection heat transfer and friction loss behaviors for air flow through a constant heat flux channel fitted with different shaped ribs. The rib cross-sections used in the present study are triangular (isosceles), wedge (right-triangular) and rectangular shapes. Two rib arrangements, namely, in-line and staggered arrays, are introduced. Measurements are carried out for a rectangular channel of aspect ratio, AR = 15 and height, H = 20 mm with single rib height, e = 6 mm and rib pitch, P = 40 mm. The flow rate is in terms of Reynolds numbers based on the inlet hydraulic diameter of the channel in a range of 4000 to 16,000. The experimental results show a significant effect of the presence of the ribs on the heat transfer rate and friction loss over the smooth wall channel. The in-line rib arrangement provides higher heat transfer and friction loss than the staggered one for a similar mass flow rate. In comparison, the wedge rib pointing downstream yields the highest increase in both the Nusselt number and the friction factor but the triangular rib with staggered array shows better thermal performance over the others.