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Solar Energy 86 (2012) 2852–2861


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Correlations for solar air heater duct with dimpled shape


roughness elements on absorber plate
Muneesh Sethi a, Varun b,⇑, N.S. Thakur c
a
School of Engineering and Technology, Shoolini University, Bajhol (Solan) 173212, India
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur 177 005, India
c
Centre for Excellence in Energy and Environment, National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur 177 005, India

Received 26 December 2011; received in revised form 7 June 2012; accepted 25 June 2012
Available online 21 July 2012

Communicated by: Associate Editor Yanjun Dai

Abstract

An experimental investigation has been carried out for a range of system and operating parameters in order to analyse the effect of
artificial roughness on heat transfer and friction characteristics in solar air heater duct which is having dimple shaped elements arranged
in angular fashion (arc) as roughness elements on absorber plate. Duct has an aspect ratio (W/H) of 11, relative roughness pitch (p/e)
range of 10–20, relative roughness height (e/Dh) range of 0.021–0.036, arc angle (a) range of 45–75° and Reynolds number (Re) ranges
from 3600 to 18,000. A considerable increase in heat transfer and friction loss has been observed. The experimental data have been used
to develop Nusselt number and friction factor correlations as a function of roughness parameters and operating parameters.
Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Dimple shaped; Heat transfer; Nusselt number; Solar air heater

1. Introduction Jaurker et al. (2006) and Layek et al. (2007). The ribs
destroy the laminar sublayer and create turbulence in the
The use of artificial roughness on a surface is an effective flow. The turbulence leads to increase in pumping power
technique to enhance heat transfer to fluid flowing in ducts. which is required for flow of air in the duct. Therefore
This roughness can be provided by sand blasting, fixing roughness is created in such a region which is near to the
wires, wire mesh or by providing roughness in the form absorber plate i.e. laminar sublayer only.
of ribs, dimples, protrusion etc. reported by Dippery and The roughness was first used in solar air heater and
Sabersky (1963), Sheriff and Gumley (1966), Saini and resulted in better heat transfer in comparison to that in con-
Saini (1997), Saini and Verma (2008), Hans et al. (2009) ventional solar air heater by Prasad and Mullick (1985).
and Bhushan and Singh (2011). Several investigations have Prasad and Saini (1988) studied the effect of roughness
been carried out to study the effect of artificial roughness and flow parameters on heat transfer and friction factor
on heat transfer and friction factor used in compact heat for transverse ribs. It was observed that maximum heat
exchanger by Elyyan et al. (2008) and Webb (1994), gas transfer occurred near to the reattachment points. The max-
turbine cooling by Moon et al. (2000), Amro et al. (2007) imum enhancement in Nusselt number and friction factor
and in solar air heaters by Momin et al. (2002), Varun was reported to be 2.38 and 4.25 times respectively over
et al. (2008), Singh et al. (2011), Lanjewar et al. (2011), smooth duct. Verma and Prasad (2000) has been carried
out experimental study for thermohydraulic optimisation
⇑ Corresponding author. of the roughness and flow parameters for Reynolds number
E-mail address: varun7go@gmail.com (Varun). (Re) range of 5000–20,000, relative roughness pitch (p/e)

0038-092X/$ - see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2012.06.024
M. Sethi et al. / Solar Energy 86 (2012) 2852–2861 2853

Nomenclature

Ac surface area of absorber plate (m2) Nu Nusselt number


Ao area of orifice meter (m2) Re Reynolds number
Cp specific heat of air (J/kg K) DPo pressure drop across orifice plate (Pa)
Cd coefficient of discharge DPd pressure drop across duct (Pa)
d print diameter of dimple (m) m mass flow rate of air (kg/s)
Dh hydraulic diameter (m) Qu useful heat gain (W)
W width of duct (m) to air outlet temperature (K)
H height of duct (m) ti air inlet temperature (K)
W/H aspect ratio of duct tpm mean temperature of absorber plate (K)
L length of test section in duct (m) tam Mean temperature of air (K)
e dimple depth (m)
e/Dh relative roughness height Greek Symbols
p pitch (m) a arc angle (°)
p/e relative roughness pitch a/60° relative arc angle
f friction factor q density (kg/m3)
k thermal conductivity (W/m K) b ratio of orifice diameter to pipe diameter
V mean flow velocity in duct (m/s)
h heat transfer coefficient (W/m2 K)

range of 10–40 and relative roughness height (e/Dh) range parameters among different roughness geometries used in
of 0.01–0.03. The optimal thermohydraulic performance solar air heaters (Mittal et al., 2007; Sharma and Varun,
was reported to be 71%. Karwa et al. (1999) has been exper- 2010; Sethi et al., 2010). Sethi et al. (2010) has computed
imentally investigated the effect of repeated rectangular the effective efficiency for four types of discrete geometries
cross-section ribs on heat transfer and friction factor for (roughness elements) used in solar air heaters (V-shaped,
duct aspect ratio (W/H) range of 7.19–7.75, p/e value of dimple shaped, W-shaped and metal grit ribs). It has been
10, e/Dh range of 0.0467–0.050 and Re range of 2800– observed that dimple shaped roughness element shows the
15,000. The enhancement in the Stanton number was best performance among all. Sharma and Varun (2010) has
reported to be 65–90% while friction factor was found to also computed exergy efficiency for continuous types of
be 2.68–2.94 times as compared to smooth duct. Gupta roughness elements i.e. transverse ribs, angled ribs, wedge
et al. (1997) experimentally investigated the effect of e/Dh, shaped ribs, rib-grooved and arc shaped wire. Among these
inclination of rib with respect to flow direction and Rey- five types of roughness elements arc shaped wire shows the
nolds number (Re) on the thermohydraulic performance best performance. As the above literature shows that the
of a roughened solar air heater. The detailed studies on dimple shaped elements and angular arc perform better
roughness geometries used in solar air heater ducts are also among all the roughness geometries which has been used
available in Varun et al. (2007), Hans et al. (2009) and in solar air heaters. Therefore, this present investigation
Bhushan and Singh (2010). has been carried out with the objective of extensive exper-
The application of artificial roughness in the form of dim- imentation on dimple shape roughness element for identifi-
ples on absorber plate is attractive roughness geometry for cation of optimum positioning of the dimples to maximise
solar air heater due to its less complicated manufacturing heat transfer coefficient and minimise friction penalty. To
process (spherical indentation). Because of this characteris- achieve the stated objective, dimple shaped elements were
tic, dimples do not add extra weight to the absorber plate arranged in angular fashion (arc) to use the benefit of both
(Saini and Verma, 2008). Moon et al. (2000) investigated shape and pattern (optimal configuration) on the underside
the effect of channel height on the heat transfer and friction of the absorber plate of a solar air heater. Thus experimen-
factor in a dimpled channel. The thermal performance of tation data has been collected to see the effect of roughness
dimpled surface was superior to that of continuous ribs. parameters on heat transfer and friction characteristics.
The heat transfer enhancement with concavities can be Using this experimental data, correlations for Nusselt num-
achieved with a relatively low pressure penalty. Elyyan ber and friction factor have also been developed.
et al. (2008) carried out a detailed heat transfer and flow
study on a dimpled plate and identified increment in the heat 1.1. Roughness parameters
transfer is due to the formation of vortex structures.
Many performance studies on roughened solar air hea- Dimple shaped roughness elements have been generated
ter have also been carried out to compare the performance on the absorber plate to create roughness in the duct. A
2854 M. Sethi et al. / Solar Energy 86 (2012) 2852–2861

Fig. 1. (a) Diagram of the absorber plate. (b) Pictorial view of the absorber plate.

Table 1
sections namely entry section, test section and exit section.
Values of flow and roughness parameter.
A schematic diagram of the experimental setup is shown
S. No. Parameter Range
in Fig. 2. The duct is having dimensions for inner cross-sec-
1 Aspect ratio (W/H) 11 tion as 2300 mm  330 mm  30 mm. The test section has a
2 Relative roughness height (e/Dh) 0.021–0.036
length of 1500 mm and the length of entry and exit section
3 Relative roughness pitch (p/e) 10–20
4 Arc angle (a) 45–75° was provided as 530 mm and 270 mm respectively. These
5 Ratio of dimple depth to print diameter (e/d) 0.5 (fixed) lengths were taken as per the ASHRAE Standard 93-77
6 Reynolds number 3600–18,000 (1977). An electric heater having size of 1500 mm 
330 mm was fabricated by combining series and parallel
schematic and pictorial view of roughness geometry is loops of heating nichrome wire on a 5 mm thick asbestos
shown in Fig. 1a and b. Rib roughness parameters in sheet. A mica sheet of 1 mm thick was placed on the
non dimensional form have been expressed as, relative nichrome wire to get uniform radiations between the electric
roughness pitch (p/e), relative roughness height (e/Dh) and heater and absorber plate. The heat flux may be varied from
arc angle (a). The dimples were produced by spherical 0 to 1200 W/m2 with the help of a variable transformer
indentation on the underside of the absorber plate. The which is connected across it. A 100 mm thick layer of glass
range of rib roughness parameters and operating parame- wool as an insulating material and a 12 mm thick wooden
ters is given in Table 1. The following procedure has been panel was provided in order to minimise the heat loses from
adopted to study the friction and heat transfer characteris- the top side of the electric heater. A 2 mm aluminium sheet
tics of roughened duct. For studying the effect of e/Dh, p/e having roughness on its underside was provided as absorber
and a on heat transfer and friction characteristics, 27 plate. The mass flow rate of air was measured by means of a
roughened plates were experimentally investigated at vari- calibrated orifice meter connected with a U-tube manome-
ous mass flow rates. ter. Control valves were provided to control the flow. Cali-
brated T type thermocouples were used to measure the
2. Experimental program and procedure temperature of air and absorbing plate temperature at dif-
ferent locations. A digital milli-voltmeter was used to indi-
An experimental setup has been designed and fabricated cate the output of the thermocouples. The pressure drop
to study the effect of roughness element on heat transfer and across the test section was measured with the help of a
fluid flow characteristics in rectangular duct. The range of micro-manometer.
parameters is decided on the basis of practical consider- For each experimental run, initially all the instruments,
ations of system and operating conditions. Experimental viz. micro-manometer, milli-voltmeter, U-tube manometer,
setup consists of wooden channel that includes three voltmeter and ammeter were checked for their correctness
M. Sethi et al. / Solar Energy 86 (2012) 2852–2861 2855

Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of the experimental setup.

and all joints were carefully checked to avoid any air leak-
age. Data was recorded under quasi-steady state (when
there is no appreciable change in temperature for 10–
15 min) conditions for the air temperature at different
points on the duct and temperature of absorber plate at
12 different locations. In the beginning quasi-steady state
was attained in 2–3 h. After that it will take 1–1.5 h to
attain quasi-steady state. At this state pressure drop across
orifice meter and across test section has been measured.

3. Data reduction

Quasi-steady state values of plate and air temperature at


various locations in the plate/duct and the pressure drops Fig. 3. Comparison of experimental and predicted values of Nusselt
(orifice and duct) have been obtained for given heat flux number for a smooth plate.
and mass flow rate of air. The heat transfer rate to air, Nus-
selt number and friction factor have been computed from
the experimental data. Following equations have been used
for the evaluation of relevant parameters:
 1=2
2qðDP o Þ
m ¼ C d Ao ð1Þ
1  b4
Qu ¼ mCpðto  ti Þ ð2Þ
Qu
h¼ ð3Þ
Ac ðtpm  tam Þ
hDh
Nu ¼ ð4Þ
k
Dh ðDP d Þ
f ¼ ð5Þ Fig. 4. Comparison of experimental and predicted values of friction factor
2LqV 2 for a smooth plate.
Uncertainty analysis as proposed by Kline and McClin-
tock (1953) has been used for the prediction of uncertainty For the validation of experimental data, experimental
associated with the experimentation. For all roughened data have been collected on smooth absorbing surface.
plates investigated the maximum estimated uncertainties The average values of Nusselt number and friction factor
in Reynolds number (Re), Nusselt number (Nu) and fric- for smooth duct have been calculated. Figs. 3 and 4 show
tion factor (f) were 2.27%, 4.91% and 4.37% respectively. the comparison of the experimental values of Nusselt num-
ber and friction factor for smooth surface with the predicted
4. Results and discussion values of the Nusselt number and the friction factor from
Dittus–Boelter and modified Blasius correlation respec-
The effect of flow and roughness parameters on heat tively (Varun and Mittal, 2006). It can be seen from the
transfer and friction characteristics for flow of air in a rect- plots that the values are comparable.
angular channel are presented and discussed in the present Figs. 5–7 have been drawn to represent the Nusselt num-
section. ber derived from the experimental test results as a function
2856 M. Sethi et al. / Solar Energy 86 (2012) 2852–2861

Fig. 5. Variation of the Nusselt number with the Reynolds number for
different values of p/e and for fixed e/Dh = 0.036 and a = 45°.

Fig. 8. Flow over a dimple (Elyyan et al., 2008).

coefficient may be attributed to vortex generation, flow sep-


aration and vortex shedding as shown in Fig. 8. In the fully
turbulent region the mean flow stream lines show the exis-
tence of two vortical structures, which together forms the
re-circular region inside the dimple cavity as reported by
Elyyan et al. (2008). Hwang et al. (2008) reported that
due to decrease in Reynolds number the low heat transfer
region inside the dimple becomes wider and inside the dim-
Fig. 6. Variation of the Nusselt number with the Reynolds number for ple this low heat transfer region appears due to flow sepa-
different values of alpha and for fixed e/Dh = 0.036 and p/e = 10. ration and recirculation.
Fig. 5 shows the Nusselt number as a function of Rey-
nolds number (Re) for relative roughness pitch (p/e) values
of 10, 15 and 20 and for a fixed value of arc angle (a) and
relative roughness height (e/Dh) of 45° and 0.036 respec-
tively. The plot has been prepared to compare the Nusselt
number for a duct having dimple shape roughness arranged
in angular fashion (arc) for different values of relative
roughness pitch (p/e). It can be seen from Fig. 5 that for dif-
ferent values of relative roughness pitch (p/e), Nu monoto-
nously increases with the increase of Re. It is seen from
the Fig. 5 that Nusselt number has been found maximum
corresponding to relative roughness pitch (p/e) value of
10. Due to separation of flow at the dimple, reattachment
of free shear layer occur for p/e of 10 and maximum heat
Fig. 7. Variation of the Nusselt number with the Reynolds number for transfer occurs in the vicinity of the reattachment region
different values of e/Dh and for fixed a = 45° and p/e = 10. (Saini and Verma, 2008). As the distance between the dim-
ples (relative roughness pitch) increases the number of vor-
of roughness and operating parameters. It has been tices formation may get reduced due to which the
observed that under the given operating conditions, Nus- enhancement in heat transfer is reduced.
selt number (Nu) is a strong function of relative roughness Fig. 6 shows the Nusselt number (Nu) as a function of
height (e/Dh), relative roughness pitch (p/e) and arc angle Reynolds number (Re) for arc angle (a) values of 45°, 60°
(a). It is observed that Nu increases monotonously with and 75° and for a fixed value of relative roughness pitch
the increase in Reynolds number. However, for dimpled (p/e) and relative roughness height (e/Dh) of 10 and 0.036
absorber plate the values of Nu are considerably higher respectively. The values of Nusselt number increases with
than those obtained for smooth absorber plate due to the the increase of arc angle (a) but up to 60°. After that the
fact that dimples on absorber plate result in enhancement value of Nusselt number starts decreasing with the further
of heat transfer coefficient. Augmentation in heat transfer increase in arc angle (a). It is observed that as the flow
M. Sethi et al. / Solar Energy 86 (2012) 2852–2861 2857

releases from the dimple, curvature induces helicity to the


mean stream lines. These generated vortices affect the
downstream dimples located in diagonal direction. These
vortices come in contact with the main stream flow and
transported to the surface which increases heat transfer.
Fig. 7 shows the variation in the Nusselt number (Nu) as
a function of the Reynolds number (Re) for relative rough-
ness height (e/Dh) values of 0.021–0.036 and for a fixed
value of relative roughness pitch (p/e) and arc angle (a)
of 10° and 45° respectively. It can be seen from Fig. 7 that
for different values of relative roughness height (e/Dh), Nu
monotonously increases with the increase in Re. It is seen
that Nu increases with increase in relative roughness height,
Fig. 10. Variation of friction factor with the Reynolds number for
(e/Dh) and has been found maximum corresponding to rel- different values of alpha and for fixed e/Dh = 0.036 and p/e = 10.
ative roughness height of 0.036. This is due to the reason
that heat transfer coefficient is low at the leading edge of
the dimples and high at the trailing edge. Larger relative
roughness height produced more reattachment of free
shear layer which creates the strong secondary flow (Kore
et al., 2011). Hence, the heat transfer increases with the
increase in dimple height and maximum occurs at e/Dh of
0.036.
Figs. 9–11 represent effect of system and operating
parameters on friction factor. It can be observed that fric-
tion factor decreases monotonously with increase in Rey-
nolds number. However, values of friction factor are
higher for roughened absorber plate as compared to those
obtained from smooth absorber plate. Fig. 9 shows the fric-
tion factor as a function of Reynolds number for relative
Fig. 11. Variation of friction factor with the Reynolds number for
roughness pitch (p/e) values of 10, 15 and 20 and for a fixed
different values of e/Dh and for fixed p/e = 10 and a = 45°.
value of arc angle (a) and relative roughness height (e/Dh) of
45° and 0.036 respectively. The maximum value of friction
factor occurs at relative roughness pitch (p/e) of 10. This (p/e) and relative roughness height (e/Dh) of 10 and 0.036
is due to the reason that maximum number of reattachment respectively. It is seen that friction factor corresponding
points is formed at relative roughness pitch (p/e) of 10 which to arc angle (a) at about 60° has been found maximum while
in turn increases the friction penalty. As the relative rough- for angle of attack (a) at 45° is found to be minimum. It is
ness pitch (p/e) goes on increasing the number of dimples get because of the reason that maximum number of dimples
reduced which in turn results in lower friction penalty. come into the contact of flow at about 60°. As the angle
Fig. 10 shows the variation of friction factor as a function increases beyond this value some of the dimple does not
of Reynolds number for arc angle (a) values of 45°, 60° take part in flow due to the creation of hindrance in the for-
and 75° and for a fixed value of relative roughness pitch mation of vortices. Similarly, the variation of friction factor
for different values of relative roughness height (e/Dh) has
been plotted in Fig. 11. The maximum value occurs at rela-
tive roughness height (e/Dh) of 0.036, this is because of the
increase in dimple depth which leads to formation of strong
recirculation zone of the flow which creates strong second-
ary flow and the power requirement to flow air through the
duct increases sharply (Kore et al., 2011).

5. Correlations for Nusselt number and friction factor

It has been discussed in the earlier section that the Nus-


selt number and friction factor are the strong functions of
flow parameters and the roughness dimensions. The func-
Fig. 9. Variation of friction factor with the Reynolds number for different tional relationships between the Nusselt number and fric-
values of p/e and for fixed e/Dh = 0.036 and a = 45°. tion factor can therefore be written as
2858 M. Sethi et al. / Solar Energy 86 (2012) 2852–2861

Nu ¼ NuðRe;P =e; a; e=Dh Þ ð6Þ


f ¼ f ðRe;P =e; a; e=Dh Þ ð7Þ
Correlations have been developed as a function of system
and operating parameters on same lines of Saini and Saini
(1997).

5.1. Correlation for Nusselt number

All the values of the Nusselt number which we get from


the experimentation were plotted against Reynolds number
as shown in Fig. 12. A regression analysis to fit a straight
line through these points is given by:
Fig. 13. Plot of Nu/Re1.1386 versus p/e.
Nu ¼ A0 Re1:1386 ð8Þ
where A0 is a function of  other parameters
 i.e. relative
roughness pitch (p/e). A0 ¼ Nu=Re1:1386 is plotted as a
function of relative roughness pitch (p/e) as shown by
Fig. 13. A regression analysis to fit a straight line through
these points is given by
 
Nu
¼ B0 ðp=eÞ0:047 ð9Þ
Re1:1386
where B0 is the function of the parameter a/60.B0 is plotted
as the function of a/60 on log–log scale shown by Fig. 14.
A regression analysis to fit a second order polynomial is
given by:
!
Nu
ln 0:047
¼ C 0 þ C 1 lnða=60Þ Fig. 14. Plot of ln{Nu/(Re1.1386(p/e)-0.047)} versus ln(a/60°).
Re1:1386 ðp=eÞ
2
þ C 2 ½lnða=60Þ ð10Þ
This equation can be expressed as:
Nu
¼ C 0 ða=60Þ0:0048
Re 1:1386
ðp=eÞ0:047
h i
2
 exp 0:7792½lnða=60Þ ð11Þ

where C0 is the function of relative height roughness (e/Dh).


C0 is plotted as the function of relative height roughness
(e/Dh) as shown in Fig. 15. A regression analysis to fit a
straight line through these points is given by:
Fig. 15. Plot of {Nu/Re1.1386(p/e)-0.047(a/60°)0.0048exp[0.7792(ln(a/
60°))2]} versus e/Dh.

Nu
h i
0:047 0:0048
Re 1:1386
ðp=eÞ ða=60Þ exp 0:7792ðlnða=60ÞÞ2

¼ D0 ðe=Dh Þ0:3629
ð12Þ

The values of the coefficients are

A0 ¼ 1:7  103 ; B0 ¼ 1:9  103 ; C 0 ¼ 6:2409;


3
Fig. 12. Variation of the Nusselt number with the Reynolds number. D0 ¼ 7:1  10
M. Sethi et al. / Solar Energy 86 (2012) 2852–2861 2859

Fig. 16. Variation of friction factor with the Reynolds number. Fig. 19. Plot of {Nu/Re0.223(p/e)-0.059(a/60°)0.0042 exp[0.4801(ln(a/
60°))2]} versus e/Dh.

Fig. 17. Plot of (f/Re0.223) versus (p/e). Fig. 20. Comparison of the experimental and predicted value of the
Nusselt numbers.

Fig. 18. Plot of ln[f/(Re0.223(p/e)0.059)] versus ln(a/60°).


Fig. 21. Comparison of the experimental and predicted value of the
friction factor.
The values result in the following correlation for the Nus-
selt number.
0:3629 A01 ¼ 1:575  101 ; B01 ¼ 1:84  101 ;
Nu ¼ 7:1  103  Re1:1386  ðe=Dh Þ
0:047 0:0048 C 01 ¼ 1:672; D01 ¼ 4:869  101
 ðp=eÞ  ða=60Þ
 expb0:7792ðlnða=60ÞÞ2 c ð13Þ
The final correlation for the friction factor can be written
5.2. Correlation for friction factor as

A similar procedure has been followed to develop the f ¼ 4:869  101  ðe=Dh Þ0:2663  Re0:223
correlation for the friction factor. The values of the coeffi- 0:059 0:0042
 ðp=eÞ  ða=60Þ
cients are the function of flow parameter and roughness 2
parameter as show in Figs. 16–19.  expb0:4801ðlnða=60ÞÞ c ð14Þ
2860 M. Sethi et al. / Solar Energy 86 (2012) 2852–2861

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