Investigation on Circular Array of Turbulent Impinging Round Jets at Confined Case: A CFD Study

Abstract

Jet impingement has immense applications in industrial cooling, such as glass tempering, turbine blades, electrical equipment, etc. The interplay in-between several jet arrangements and the effect of swirl intensity require enormous study to achieve steady heat transfer. This paper numerically investigates an inline array of 25 circular confined swirling air jets impinging vertically on a flat surface. In this regard, three-dimensional simulations are executed using the finite volume method for a number of control parameters, such as Reynolds number (Re = 11600, 24600, and 35000), impinging distance (H/D = 0.25, 0.5, 1), swirl number (S = 0.3 and 0.75) and jet-to-jet separation distance (Z/D = 2.5), where, D is the nozzle diameter. Impinging pressure distribution, flow velocity, surface Nusselt number, and Reynolds stresses are investigated for different operating conditions. The results reveal that both the wall pressure and surface Nusselt number are comparatively uniform in the case of high swirl flow. Moreover, distinct heat transfer behavior is observed from the unconfined condition for high swirl flow in which the heat transfer is constant after a certain radial distance. The Reynolds normal stress adjacent to the nozzle exit is more rigorous than the downstream regions while Reynolds shear stress varies unpredictably along the radial direction. In addition, an estimated 102 % enhancement in average Nusselt number is observed for high swirl flow, at a Reynolds number increment from 11600 to 35000. This enhancement is evident by 23 % in terms of thermal performance factor.  Besides, the average Nusselt number and thermal performance factor augmented by 19 % and 8 %, respectively, for an increased swirl intensity at low a Reynolds number (Re =11600).