Numerical Study of Heat Transfer Enhancement in Contour Corrugated Channel Using Water and Engine Oil

Abstract

Improving the design of geometrical parameters of heat exchanger leads to enhance heat transfer and makes it further compacted which in turn increases the efficiency of the thermal process, leading to save operating costs. In the present investigation, thermal and hydraulic performance of laminar flow of the trapezoidal, sinusoidal, and straight counter heat exchanger with water and engine oil was carried out numerically over Reynolds number ranges of 1100-2300 for water and 250 for engine oil. The effect of wave height and wavelength of both trapezoidal and sinusoidal on the thermal properties and hydraulic performance are studied. The numerical study showed that the effect of wave height on the Nusselt number was greater than that of wavelength in both trapezoidal and sinusoidal channels. The study also showed that the trapezoidal channel's influence on Nusselt number was higher than that of the sinusoidal channel and straight channel respectively. Thermal and flow characteristics are explored with the help of the streamwise velocity and isotherms contours for trapezoidal and sinusoidal-corrugated channels. In addition, the success of the heat exchanger design was evaluated by the results of the thermal performance criteria. The results of the thermal performance criteria at all wave heights and wavelength of the corrugated channel were greater than 1, which is indicating that the heat transfer rate is higher than the friction losses. Consequently, the use of corrugated surfaces in Contour heat exchangers can improve heat transfer in many applications.