Short Title: Int. J. Mech. Eng. Robot. Res.
Frequency: Bimonthly
Professor of School of Engineering, Design and Built Environment, Western Sydney University, Australia. His research interests cover Industry 4.0, Additive Manufacturing, Advanced Engineering Materials and Structures (Metals and Composites), Multi-scale Modelling of Materials and Structures, Metal Forming and Metal Surface Treatment.
2024-10-25
2024-09-24
Abstract—The paper presents an experimental investigation on heat transfer and flow resistance in a solar air heater (SAH) duct with rectangular-wing vortex generators (RWVGs) on the absorber plate to increase the SAH system performance. The experimental work is carried out in the test duct with its aspect ratio (AR) of 10 for Reynolds number (Re) based on the hydraulic duct diameter ranging from 5290 to 22,700. The RWVGs are placed on the absorber with three attack angles (a = 30°, 45° and 60°) and three relative wing pitches (PR = Pl/H = 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0) at a single relative wing height (BR=b/H=0.67). The experimental result shows that the use of RWVGs leads to the considerable increase in Nusselt number (Nu) over the flat-plate duct (smooth duct) around 4.06–5.79 times while the increase in friction factor (f) is about 11.43–43.97 times. The Nu and f display the increasing trend with the rise of a but show the opposite trend for the increment of PR. The highest thermal performance for using the RWVG roughness is some 1.95 at a = 30° and PR = 1.5. Correlations for Nu and f have also been developed and determined as a function of RWVG parameters. Index Terms—solar air heater, vortex generators, flow resistance, thermal performance
