Heat Transfer, Pressure Loss and Flow Field Measurements Downstream of Staggered Two-Row Circular and Elliptical Pin Fin Arrays

Abstract

This paper presents the results of heat transfer, total pressure loss, and wake flow field measurements downstream of two-row staggered elliptical and circular pin fin arrays. Two different types of elliptical fins are tested, i.e., a Standard Elliptical Fin (SEF) and a fin that is based on NACA four digit symmetrical airfoil shapes (N fin). The results are compared to those of a corresponding circular pin fin array. The minor axis lengths for both types of elliptical fins are kept equal to the diameter of the circular fins. Experiments are performed using Liquid Crystal Thermography and total pressure probe wake surveys in a Reynolds number range of 18 000 and 86 000 as well as Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) measurements at ReD=18 000. The pin fins had a height-to-diameter ratio of 1.5. The streamwise and the transverse spacings were equal to one circular fin diameter, i.e., S/D=X/D=2. For the circular fin array, average Nusselt numbers on the endwall within the wake are about 27% higher than those of SEF and N fin arrays. Different local heat transfer enhancement patterns are observed for elliptical and circular fins. In terms of total pressure loss, there is a substantial reduction in case of SEF and N fins. The loss levels for the circular fin are 46.5% and 59.5% higher on average than those of the SEF and N fins, respectively. An examination of the Reynolds analogy performance parameter show that the performance indices of the SEF and the N fins are 1.49 and 2.0 times higher on average than that of circular fins, respectively. The thermal performance indices show a collapse of the data, and the differences are much less evident. Nevertheless, N fins still show slightly higher thermal performance values. The wake flow field measurements show that the circular fin array creates a relatively large low momentum wake zone compared to the SEF and N fin arrays. The wake trajectories of the first row of fins in circular, SEF and N fin arrays are also different from each other. The turbulent kinetic energy levels within the wake of the circular fin array are higher than those for the SEF and the N fin arrays. The transverse variations in turbulence levels correlate well with the corresponding local heat transfer enhancement variations.