ISSN Online: 2379-1748
ISBN Flash Drive: 978-1-56700-469-4
ISBN Online: 978-1-56700-470-0
Second Thermal and Fluids Engineering Conference
A NUMERICAL STUDY OF FLOW AND HEAT TRANSFER IN WEDGED CORRUGATED PLATE CHANNELS
Abstract
Flow and heat transfer characteristics for varying-amplitude, wedged corrugated plate channels with
accelerating flow effect are numerically investigated. The wedge angle of this study, for possible application
to the trailing-edge cooling of gas turbine blades, is confined to within 10 degrees with the case of no wedge
angle as the basis for comparison. Other varying parameters include corrugation angle and Reynolds number.
The CFD software FlowVision is employed for numerical computation. The rectangular mesh of the
software reduces the difficulty in meshing the regions around contact points of the two wavy plates.
Computed results of local flow field, pressure drops, and Nusselt number (Nu) are presented to reveal the
transport phenomena of such wedged corrugated plate channels. With the acceleration effect of the wedged
channel, Nusselt number increases from the channel entrance to the exit. Although this trend is similar for a
fixed wedge angle, the Nusselt number values vary significantly with corrugation angle. In average, the
corrugation angle of 60 degrees gives the highest Nu number, but the variation along the main flow direction
is also the largest, compared to the corrugation angles of 30 and 45 degrees. In the transverse direction, Nu
has the highest value at the peak and the lowest value at the valley. Most of the fluid flows along the trough.
However, the secondary flow patterns vary remarkably with corrugation angle.