Computational Fluid Dynamics based Analysis of Artificially Roughened Solar Air Heater Duct Using S-shape Ribs Kumar Khushmeet*, Dr Prajapati D.R.**, Dr Samir Sushant** * Research Scholar, Mechanical Engineering Department, PEC University of Technology, Chandigarh, (UT), India ** Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, PEC University of Technology (formerly Punjab Engineering College), Chandigarh- (India) Online published on 27 February, 2017. Abstract In a solar air heater ductproviding artificial roughness on the heat transfer surface in the form of projections enhances the heat transfer coefficient by creating the turbulence and breaking the laminar sub-layer near the heat transferring surface. In the present work performance of a solar air heater duct provided with artificial roughness in the form of thin circular wire arranged in ‘S’ shape rib geometries has been analyzed using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The effect of roughness geometry on heat transfer and friction factor and performance enhancement was investigated for roughness parameters, e/Dh=0.043, P/e=8, W/w=3, α=60° and Reynolds number (Re) from 2, 400 to 20, 000. Different turbulent models have been used for the analysis of heat transfer and friction factor and their results are compared with Dittus-Boelter and Blasius empirical relationship for smooth surface. Renormalization k-epsilon model based results have been found in good agreement with the empirical results and hence this model is used to predict heat transfer and friction factor in the duct. Top Keywords CFD, Renormalized, Roughness, Nusselt number, Heat transfer. Top |