Results in Engineering 3 (2019) 100021

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Results in Engineering
journal homepage: www.editorialmanager.com/rineng/Default.aspx

Effect of the baffle inclination on the flow and thermal fields in channel
heat exchangers
Houari Ameur
Department of Technology, University Centre of Naama (Ctr Univ Naama), Po. Box 66, 45000, Algeria

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Results on the flow fields and thermal distribution in a rectangular channel heat exchanger are provided in this
Channel heat exchangers paper. The baffling technique is used to enhance the performance of such systems. Effects of the inclination angle
Baffling technique of baffles and the direction of inclination are investigated.
Baffle inclination
CFD
Shear thinning fluid

Introduction
The baffling technique is one of the most commonly used techniques
to enhance the heat transfer rates in industrial processes. This technique
is employed in different industrial applications, such as shell and tube
heat exchangers (STHEs), internal cooling thermal regenerators, power
production, solar collectors, petroleum refining and chemicals, static
mixers, etc. [1,2]. The baffle insert on the channel walls yields an
interruption of hydrothermal layers, resulting thus to the rise of heat
transfer ratio [3–5]. The inclination of baffles, their spacing, height and
arrangement are the main design parameters to be optimized in such
HEs. In this micro article, we focus on the inclination effect.
Problem under investigation
The simulated geometry is shown in Fig. 1. It is a rectangular channel
of length L ¼ 600 mm and height h1/L ¼ 0.033. The channel contains two
baffles separated by a distance e/L ¼ 0.3 and having a thickness of t/
L ¼ 0.003, where the first baffle is placed at a distance (0.3*L) from the
inlet section. The baffle height (h2) is equal to 0.5*h1. A CMC (Carboxy-
Methyl-Cellulose) solution (with the flow behavior index n ¼ 0.69,
consistency index m ¼ 0.02 Pa sn and density ρ ¼ 997 kg/m3) has been
used as a working medium. It is a shear thinning fluid modeled by the
Ostwald law. For further details, please see Ref. [6]. The temperature of
fluid at the inlet section is taken as 300 K. The temperature at the upper
wall of channel is set to 267 K, however the lower wall of channel and the
baffles are considered as adiabatic. The right and left side surfaces of
channel are considered as periodic. Effects of the baffle inclination and
the direction of inclination are highlighted.
Results and discussion
Effect of the baffle inclination
In this micro article, effects of the baffle inclination in both directions
(positive and negative directions) are tested. The inclination of baffle in
the same direction of flow is considered as positive and the opposite
direction to the flow as negative. Two angles of inclination were chosen
for this examination, which are: α ¼ 30 and 90 .
Let's start with the positive direction of inclination. On the horizontal
plane (XY), the flow fields are plotted in Fig. 2. For the different geom-
etries studied, the baffle always presents an obstacle which participates
in the separation of the flow and the formation of vortex. The size of these
vortices is proportional to the inclination angle (α). The flow recircula-
tion length increases with the increase of α. Also, a small secondary
vortex is formed in the downstream region of the straight baffle (with
α ¼ 90 ). The kinetic energy of these eddies contributes to the
improvement of heat transfer rates, as shown in Fig. 4.
Effect of the direction of inclination
Regarding the orientation direction of the baffle, results of the com-
parison made between the two geometric configurations are shown in
Figs. 3 and 4. As clearly illustrated, the negative orientation of the baffle

E-mail address: houari_ameur@yahoo.fr.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rineng.2019.100021
Received 26 March 2019; Received in revised form 18 June 2019; Accepted 22 June 2019
2590-1230/© 2019 Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
H. Ameur Results in Engineering 3 (2019) 100021

Fig. 1. Geometry of the computational domain.

Fig. 2. Flow fields (m/s) for Re ¼ 100.

Fig. 3. Flow fields (m/s) for Re ¼ 100.

Fig. 4. Thermal fields for Re ¼ 100.

seems to be more promising in terms of improvement of the heat transfer
rates of such exchanger. This is due to the secondary vortex that is located
before the baffle, which yields further intensification of the fluid particles
movement, giving thus more turbulent kinetic energy.
Conclusion
The fluid flows and thermal distribution of a channel heat exchanger
equipped with baffles were numerically determined. The results found
are in agreement with those of all the authors who claim that locally
recirculation zones appear in the baffled region and which corresponds to
a greater heat transfer. The findings of this investigations revealed that
the straight baffle (α) yields more intensified and wider vortex than the
inclined baffle. However and for the inclined baffle, the opposite direc-
tion seems to be more promising in terms of intensification of heat
transfer.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest for this paper.
References
[1] M. Mellal, R. Benzeguir, D. Sahel, H. Ameur, Int. J. Therm. Sci. 121 (2017) 138–149.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijthermalsci.2017.07.011.
[2] D. Sahel, H. Ameur, Y. Kamla, Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys. 78 (2017) 34805. https://doi
.org/10.1051/epjap/2017170066.
[3] B.K.P. Ary, M.S. Lee, S.W. Ahn, D.H. Lee, Int. Commun. Heat Mass Transf. 39 (2012)
1578–1583. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2012.10.010.
[4] P. Promvonge, N. Koolnapadol, M. Pimsarn, C. Thianpong, Appl. Therm. Eng. 62
(2014) 285–292. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2013.09.031.
[5] K. Alem, D. Sahel, A. Nemdili, H. Ameur, Front. Heat Mass Transfer (FHMT) 10
(2018) 27. https://doi.org/10.5098/hmt.10.27.
[6] K. Boukhadia, H. Ameur, D. Sahel, M. Bozit, Int. J. Therm. Sci. 126 (2018) 172–180.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijthermalsci.2017.12.025.