Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 44 (2013) 760–767

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Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science

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Heat transfer and friction factor correlations for impinging jet solar air heater
Ranchan Chauhan ⇑, N.S. Thakur
Centre for Energy and Environment, NIT Hamirpur, HP, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Experimental investigation has been carried out to study heat transfer and friction factor characteristics
Received 27 June 2012 using impinging jets in solar air heater duct. The effect of flow and geometrical parameters, especially the
Received in revised form 19 September 2012 jet diameter, streamwise and spanwise pitch has been studied. The experiments encompassed the flow
Accepted 23 September 2012
Reynolds number in the range 3800–16,000. The jet diameter, streamwise pitch and spanwise pitch each
Available online 3 October 2012
normalized by hydraulic diameter of the duct are in the range: 0.043–0.109; 0.435–1.739; 0.435–0.869
respectively. The air through the jets is impinged normally onto the absorber surface which was heated
Keywords:
with uniform heat flux of 1000 W/m2. The heat transfer and friction factor data obtained is compared
Jet impingement
Solar air heater
with that of parallel flow solar air heater under similar geometrical and flow conditions. The results show
Nusselt number that there is considerable enhancement in heat transfer and friction factor by 2.67 and 3.5 times respec-
Friction factor tively. Correlations for Nusselt number and friction factor have been developed in terms of above param-
eters which reasonably correlate the experimental data.
Ó 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The Solar air collector has an important place among solar ther-
mal systems as it is widely used in many commercial applications
such as to supply hot air to buildings, agricultural and industrial
drying [1] etc. The thermal efficiency of solar air heaters is gener-
ally low because of low convective heat transfer coefficient be-
tween the absorber plate and the moving fluid (air) which
increases the absorber plate temperature leading to higher heat
losses to the ambient, resulting in low thermal efficiency of such
collectors [2]. To increase the thermal performance of such collec-
tors heat has to be transferred efficiently. Studies have reported
that a directed fluid released against the heat transferring surface
can efficiently transfer large amount of thermal energy and mass
between the surface and the fluid. Compared with conventional
convection cooling by confined flow parallel to (under) the cooled
surface, jet impingement produces heat transfer coefficients that
are up to 3 times higher as the impingement boundary layers are
much thinner and often the spent fluid after impingement serves
to turbulate the surrounding fluid. Also the flow required from
an impinging jet device for a required heat transfer coefficient
may be two orders of magnitude smaller than that required for a
cooling approach using free wall parallel flow [3].
Impingement with high velocity gas jets is an established meth-
od of convectively heating/cooling in a wide variety of processes
and thermal control applications. The major application of imping-
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 9418011870; fax: +91 1972223834.
E-mail address: chauhan.303@gmail.com (R. Chauhan).
ing jets includes solar heat absorbers [4], turbine blades [5], micro-
electro-mechanical component [6], etc. Researchers in heat trans-
fer field are interested in studying the thermal performance of
multi-jet impingement cooling where improved performance sig-
nificantly prolongs the operating life of the aforementioned com-
ponents. The characteristics of multiple jet impingements are
influenced basically by two types of interactions. Firstly, the inter-
ference between the adjacent jets can be before impingement on
the surface. This may happen when the distance between the jets
in small and/or when the distance between the jet plate and target
surface is large. Secondly, the wall jets formed by the adjacent jets
collide on the target surface. Such interactions are possible when
the pitch is small and/or when the distance between the jet plate
and target surface is small but jet velocity is large. The effects of
changing impingement plate geometric and flow parameters at rel-
atively low speeds are considered in variety of existing publica-
tions. The effects of Reynolds number and streamwise/spanwise
jet spacing at low speed impingement cooling are addressed by
Kercher and Tabakoff [7], Chance [8], etc. Metzger et al. [9] pre-
sented heat transfer characteristics measured on a target surface
beneath a two dimensional array of impinging jets at low speed
indicate that in-line arrangement of jets provide better heat trans-
fer than staggered arrangements. Florscheuetz et al. [10] includes
data on channel crossflow mass velocity in addition to correlation
which gives Nusselt number dependence on these parameters as
well as on jet impingement plate geometry, prandtl number and
Reynolds number. Brevet et al. [11] considered a row of impinging
jets in a test section in which the spent air was constrained to exit
in single direction. Effects of Reynolds number, impingement

0894-1777/$ - see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.expthermflusci.2012.09.019
 R. Chauhan, N.S. Thakur / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 44 (2013) 760–767
Nomenclature
Ap surface area of absorber plate (m2)
Ao area of orifice meter (m2)
Cd coefficient of discharge
Cp specific heat of air (J/kg K)
Dj diameter of jet (m)
Dh hydraulic diameter of duct (m)
f friction factor
h heat transfer coefficient (W/m2 K)
L length of the test section (m)
Nu Nusselt number
DPo pressure drop across orifice plate (Pa)
DP pressure drop across test section (Pa)
Qu useful heat gain (W)
distance and spanwise jet-to-jet spacing on Nusselt number distri-
bution lead to recommendation for optimum Z/D of 3–6 and opti-
mal spanwise jet spacing of 4–5 jet diameters.
It is of utmost importance in solar thermal collectors to ensure a
high average rate of heat transfer across the entire surface. As the
crossflow can significantly lower the overall heat transfer in jet
impingement cooling [12] an impingement based heat transfer in
solar air heaters should incorporate exit from one direction. By
varying the flow and geometric parameters, including the number,
size and spacing of the jet orifices, the potential exists for adjust-
ment of the heat transfer coefficients to achieve a specified distri-
bution in surface temperature or heat flux. It appears that the
knowledge of the effects of array configuration on heat transfer
and friction characteristics has been inadequate for achievement
of optimum designs for solar air heaters. The application of jet
impingement to solar air collectors involves low flow Reynolds
number. More appropriate studies have been conducted by
Kercher and Tabakoff [7] and by Kuroda and Nishioka [13] both
of whom carried out experimental investigations on heat transfer
at low Reynolds number, but these studies did not provided any
information regarding friction losses occurring inside the duct
resulting in increase in pumping power penalty. Most recent study
carried out by Belusko et al. [14] to study the performance of jet
impingement in unglazed air collectors reported 21% increase in
thermal efficiency. Although the study did not report heat transfer
and friction characteristics of the impinging jet solar air heater.
Thus, the present investigation has been carried out with the pri-
mary objective of determining the heat transfer behavior for a
range of uniformly spaced array configurations for interest in solar
air heating energy systems. Also the previous studies reported only
heat transfer correlations but in case of solar air heaters it is impor-
tant to evaluate friction losses inside the rectangular duct in order
to evaluate that by what percentage the solar air heater is cost
effective. Thus, the measurement of heat transfer and pressure
drop across the test section as a function of flow rate and geomet-
rical parameters has been carried out with the objective of devel-
oping a correlation for Nusselt number and friction factor which
would be of direct use to the designer. The correlation for Nusselt
number and friction factor are correlated in terms of Reynolds
Table 1
Range of flow and geometrical parameters.
Reynolds number, ‘‘Re’’ 3800–16,000
Streamwise pitch to hydraulic diameter ratio, ‘‘X/Dh’’ 0.435–1.739
Spanwise pitch to hydraulic diameter ratio, ‘‘Y/Dh’’ 0.435–0.869
Duct aspect ratio, ‘‘W/Z’’ 11.6
Jet diameter to hydraulic diameter ratio, ‘‘Dj/Dh’’ 0.045–0.109
761
Re reynolds number
Tfi temperature of fluid at inlet (K)
Tfo temperature of fluid at outlet (K)
Tfm mean temperature of flowing fluid (K)
Tpm mean temperature of absorber plate (K)
W width of the duct (m)
X streamwise pitch (m)
Y spanwise pitch (m)
Z height of the duct (m)
Greek symbols
q density (kg/m3)
b ratio of orifice diameter to pipe diameter
number and in terms of three geometrical parameters: the stream-
wise jet spacing, the spanwise jet spacing and jet diameter each
normalized by hydraulic diameter of the rectangular duct (X/
Dh, Y/Dh, Dj/Dh). The range of parameters is presented in Table 1.
2. Experimental details
2.1. Experimental test facility
A schematic layout of the experimental set up is shown in
Fig. 1a. The experimental test set up has been designed and
fabricated to study the effect of jet impingement on the absorber
surface through circular jets in a duct flow of solar air heater.
The test set up consists of entrance section, test section, exit
section, orifice meter and the suction blower at the other end.
The rectangular duct measures 2.4  0.29  0.025 m with test
section of 1.4 m, entry and exit lengths of 0.6 m and 0.4 m respec-
tively. The entry and exit lengths are chosen as per ASHRAE
p
Standards [15] which recommends entry length P 5 WZ and exit
p
length P 2.5 WZ for the turbulent flow regime. A uniform heat
flux is provided by an electric heater, fabricated by loops of
nichrome wire of size 1.4 m  0.29 m located on top wall of the
test section with other sides insulated. A variable transformer is
connected to maintain a specific voltage and an ammeter to mea-
sure the current flowing through the circuit in order to maintain
uniform heat flux of 1000 W/m2. A mica sheet of 0.5 mm thickness
is sandwiched between the nichrome wire and the asbestos sheet
of 5 mm thickness to prevent back heating from the heater thus
preventing top loss. In order to prevent heat loss to surroundings
the whole periphery of the rectangular duct is covered by 76 mm
glass wool on top and 50 mm wooden blocks from other sides of
the duct. The mass flow rate of air through the duct is measured
by using a calibrated orifice meter fitted between two flanged
pipes of suitable length to keep the orifice plate concentric with
the pipe and U-tube manometer filled with isopropyl alcohol.
The pressure drop across the test section has been measured by
a micro-manometer with least count of 0.01 mm of Hg. The tem-
peratures at various locations are measured by calibrated K-Type
thermocouples (0.3 mm i.e. 24 SWG) to indicate the average tem-
perature of air at inlet and outlet and at 15 locations on the absor-
ber plate as shown in Fig. 1b. The impingement plate is inserted in
the rectangular duct in between absorber plate which is the heat
transferring surface and the base plate to produce jets for impinge-
ment, normally onto the absorber surface. The rectangular duct is
so designed so that the impingement test plates can be installed
at the location. Fig. 1c shows the location of streamwise and span-
wise pitch on the impingement test plate. A suction blower is fixed
at the other end to draw the air into the rectangular duct, and the
762 R. Chauhan, N.S. Thakur / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 44 (2013) 760–767
Fig. 1a. The schematic layout of experimental set up.
Fig. 1b. Location of thermocouples on absorber plate.
Fig. 1c. Impingement plate geometry: Location of streamwise and spanwise pitch.
air flow rate was maintained using air valves fixed at inlet and exit
of the blower as shown in Fig. 1a. The impingement flow which is-
sues from these holes is contained within the channel formed by
the impingement jet plate and the target plate, and is constrained
to exit in a single direction.
2.2. Experimental procedure and range of parameters
The experimental data pertaining to heat transfer and flow fric-
tion was collected in accordance with recommendation of ASHRAE
Standard 93-97 [15] for testing of solar collectors. In the present
study 48 jet impingement test plates with different values of jet
parameters were investigated in addition to the smooth parallel
flow under same conditions for the purpose of comparison with
impinging jet plates. The jet plate was inserted in between the back
plate and the target (absorber) plate and the set up was checked for
air leakage if any before each set of experimentation. The blower
was switched ON to let a predetermined rate of air inflow in the
duct. The absorber plate was then heated with the electric heater
fabricated to produce uniform heat flux of 1000 W/m2 and placed
over the test section of the absorber plate. Six values of air flow
rates were used for each set at same or fixed uniform heat flux.
At each value of the air flow rate and the corresponding heat flux,
the system was allowed to attain a steady state before the data was
recorded. The steady state was assumed to be achieved when no
considerable variations of temperatures between successive scans
was observed for 10–12 min. During experimentation the follow-
ing parameters were measured for each set of readings:
1. Temperature of the absorber plate (Tpm).
2. Temperature of air at inlet (Tfi) and outlet (Tfo) of the test
section.
3. Pressure drop across the test section (DP).
4. Pressure difference across the orifice plate to measure air flow
rate (DPo).
The range of parameters covered in the present study is as given
in Table 1.
2.3. Data reduction
The experimental data obtained was used to compute heat
transfer rate, Nusselt number and friction factor in order to deter-
mine the effect of jet impingement on heat transfer and friction
 R. Chauhan, N.S. Thakur / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 44 (2013) 760–767 763

_ heat
characteristics in solar air heater duct. Mass flow rate (m),
60
transfer from absorber plate to the flowing fluid (Qu), heat transfer
coefficient (h) and Nusselt number (Nu) in the duct were calculated Experimental Value
50
as:

Nusselt Number, Nu
Dittus Boelter Eqn.
The mass flow rate of air determined from the pressure drop
40
across the orifice plate using following relation:

  30
2qair;0 DPo 0:5
_ ¼ C d Ao
m ð1Þ
1  b4 20
The useful heat gain of air is calculated as
10
_ p ðT fo  T fi Þ
Q u ¼ mC ð2Þ
0
The heat transfer coefficient for the test section is 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 18000

Reynolds Number, Re
Qu
h¼ ð3Þ Fig. 2. Comparison of experimental and predicted values from Dittus–Boelter
Ap ðT pm  T fm Þ
equation.
Nusselt number is calculated as

hDh 0.016
Nu ¼ ð4Þ
K Experimental Value
0.014 Blasius Equation
The friction factor was determined from the measured values of
pressure drop across the test length, L = 1.4 m using following
Friction Factor, f
0.012
relation:
0.010
DPDh
f ¼ ð5Þ 0.008
2qair LV 2air
The thermophysical properties of air used in the calculations 0.006
were obtained from a text by Duffie and Beckman [16] correspond-
0.004
ing to mean bulk temperature of air (Tfm).
By using the estimation method of Kline and McKlintock [17], 0.002
the maximum uncertainty of heat transfer coefficient, h is 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 18000

±2.29%. The individual errors contributed to the uncertainty of h Reynolds Number, Re

for the measured and physical properties are: Mass flow rate:
Fig. 3. Comparison of experimental and predicted values from Blasius equation.
±1.73%, velocity of air in the duct: ±1.78%, useful heat gain:
±2.23%. The maximum uncertainties of other non-dimensional
parameters are Reynolds number: ±2.19%, Nusselt number:
4. Results and discussion
±2.42% and friction factor: ±3.06%.
The experimental data obtained is used to study the heat trans-
fer, friction factor discussed in following subsections.
3. Validity tests

The validity tests have been carried out to serve as a basis of
comparison of results with the values of Nusselt number and fric-
tion factor from the correlations available in the literature for the
smooth rectangular duct.
The Nusselt number for smooth rectangular duct is given by
Dittus–Boelter equation [18] as
Dittus—Boelter equation : Nus ¼ 0:023Re0:8 Pr0:4
The friction factor for a smooth rectangular duct is given by
modified Blassius equation [19] as
Blassius equation : fs ¼ 0:085Re0:25
The comparison of experimental and predicted values of
Nusselt number and friction factor as a function of Reynolds
number has been shown in Figs. 2 and 3 respectively. The average
absolute deviation of the present experimental Nusselt number
data is 3.53% from the values predicted by Eq. (6) and average
absolute deviation of friction factor data is 2.08% from the
values predicted by Eq. (7). This shows a good agreement between
experimental and predicted values, which ensures the accuracy of
the experimental data collected for investigation.
4.1. Heat transfer and friction factor
Fig. 4 shows Nusselt number variation with jet diameter to
hydraulic diameter ratio (Dj/Dh) at different values of Reynolds
number. The values of Nusselt number were found to increase with
increasing Reynolds number as expected. As Reynolds number
increases, thickness in boundary layer decreases due to decrease
ð6Þ in convective resistance and thus the heat transfer increases. The
jet diameter to hydraulic diameter ratio of 0.065 yield maximum
value of Nusselt number at all values of Reynolds number. The
Nusselt number beyond this value showed substantial decrease
in heat transfer. The variation of friction factor with that of varying
ð7Þ
Dj/Dh has been plotted in Fig 5. It was observed that the maximum
value of friction factor was obtained at jet diameter to hydraulic
diameter ratio of 0.043 and minimum value at 0.109 for the range
of parameters studied.
The variation of Nusselt number with Reynolds number for dif-
ferent values of streamwise pitch to hydraulic diameter ratio (X/
Dh) and fixed Dj/Dh of 0.065 is as presented in Fig. 6 which shows
that very low heat transfer is achieved at X/Dh of 0.435 and in-
creases as the streamwise pitch increases to maximum of 1.739.
Nusselt number was found to be increased with increase in
764 R. Chauhan, N.S. Thakur / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 44 (2013) 760–767

enhancement in the values of Nusselt number as compared to

120 the conventional parallel flow solar air heater. However, increase
X/Dh = 0.435 Re = 16000
Re = 14100
Y/Dh = 0.435
Re = 11000
in heat transfer through impinging jets also results in increase in
100
friction factor. The effect of Reynolds number on friction factor
Nusselt number, Nu

Re = 8100
Re = 5700
Re = 3800 for different values of streamwise pitch ratios has been plotted in
80
Fig. 7 which represents decrease in friction factor values with in-
crease in Reynolds number in all the cases as expected. As the fric-
60
tion factor decreases with increase in Reynolds number and
increases with increase in streamwise pitch ratio, the maximum
40
value of friction factor has been observed at X/Dh of 1.739. The
streamwise pitch ratio was restricted by the friction penalty (f/fs)
20
so that the performance parameter may be kept within acceptable
limits. Likewise streamwise pitch ratio, the spanwise jet locations
0
0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.10 0.12
also influence the heat transfer through the rectangular duct of so-
lar air heater. The spanwise pitch ratio (Y/Dh) studied in the range
Jet diameter to hydraulic diameter ratio, Dj/Dh
0.435–0.869 represents that increase in pitch between adjacent
Fig. 4. Variation of Nusselt number as a function of jet diameter ratio (Dj/Dh). rows yields increased Nusselt number values as the jet to jet inter-
ference decreases as jet to jet pitch length increases. The variation
of Nusselt number with that of spanwise pitch ratios at different
Reynolds numbers has been plotted in Fig. 8 with other parameters
0.035 Re = 3800 fixed which shows that increasing row to row pitch results in heat
X/Dh = 0.435
Re = 5700 transfer enhancement although there is low heat transfer enhance-
Y/Dh = 0.435
Re = 8100
0.030 Re = 11000 ment compared to streamwise pitch ratio. The friction factor vari-
Re = 14100
ations for different spanwise pitch ratios as presented in Fig. 9
Friction factor, f

Re = 16000
0.025 show that there is increase in friction factor as spanwise pitch ratio
increases. The spanwise pitch ratio of 0.435 represents the lowest
0.020 values of friction factor and increases for Y/Dh value of 0.625 and

0.015
0.08
0.010 Re = 3800
Y/Dh = 0.869
Re = 5700
Dj/Dh = 0.065
Re = 8100
0.005 0.06 Re = 11000
Re = 14100
Friction Factor, f

0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.10 0.12

Re = 16000
Jet diameter to hydraulic diameter ratio, Dj/Dh
0.04
Fig. 5. Variation of friction factor as a function of jet diameter ratio (Dj/Dh).

0.02
140
X/Dh = 0.435 Y/D h = 0.869
120 X/Dh = 0.869 Dj/D h = 0.065
X/Dh = 1.304
0.00
X/Dh = 1.739
Nusselt number, Nu

100 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0

Parallel flow
Streamwise Pitch Ratio, X/Dh
80
Fig. 7. Variation of friction factor as a function of streamwise pitch (X/Dh).
60

40
180
Re = 3800
20 160 Re = 5700
X/Dh = 1.739
Re = 8100 Dj/Dh = 0.065
140 Re = 11000
Nusselt Number, Nu

0
Re = 14100
2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 18000 Re = 16000
120
Reynolds number, Re
100
Fig. 6. Variation of Nusselt number as a function of Reynolds number.
80

60

Reynolds number for each of the case as expected. Increase in Rey- 40

nolds number results in increase in the turbulence which increases
20
the heat transfer through the duct. Also, increase in the streamwise
pitch ratio (X/Dh) resulted in decrease in interference of adjacent 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
jets before impinging on the absorber plate and thus high heat Spanwise Pitch, Y/Dh
transfer is achieved. From Fig. 6 it can be seen that increase in
Reynolds number and streamwise pitch ratio there is significant Fig. 8. Variation of Nusselt number as a function of spanwise pitch ratio (Y/Dh).
 R. Chauhan, N.S. Thakur / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 44 (2013) 760–767 765

Re = 3800
0.08 Re = 5700 X/D h = 1.739 8 X/D h = 1.739 Dj/Dh = 0.043
Re = 8100 Dj/D h = 0.065 Y/D h = 0.869 Dj/Dh = 0.065

Friction factor ratio, f/fs

Re = 11000
Dj/Dh = 0.087
Re = 14100
Friction factor, f

Re = 16000 Dj/Dh = 0.109

0.06 6

0.04 4

0.02 2

0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 18000
Spanwise Pitch, Y/Dh Reynolds number, Re

Fig. 9. Variation of friction factor as a function of spanwise pitch (Y/Dh). Fig. 11. Variation of friction factor ratio with Reynolds number.

0.869. However difference in increase in friction factor value from Nu ¼ fn ðRe; X=Dh ; Y=Dh ; Dj =Dh Þ
0.435 to 0.625 is more than from 0.625 to 0.869 because there is
almost no interference between the adjacent jets before striking f ¼ fn ðRe; X=Dh ; Y=Dh ; Dj =Dh Þ
at the absorber surface due to increase in spanwise jet to jet The data corresponding to all impingement test plates totaling
distance. 288 data points were used for regression analysis. In order to
The flow through solar air heater duct using impinging jets determine the functional relationship between Nusselt number
shows considerable enhancement in heat transfer. Fig. 10 repre- and Reynolds number the plot of ln (Nu) as a function of ln (Re)
sents enhancement in Nusselt number in terms of enhancement ra- is plotted as shown in Fig. 12. A regression analysis to fit a straight
tio (Nu/Nus) which is greater than unity for all values of Reynolds line through these data points is:
number with maximum value of 2.67 at Dj/Dh of 0.065. This is due
to decrease in interference between adjacent jets prior to impinge- Nu ¼ Ao Re0:8512 ð8Þ
ment which results in formation of thin boundary layer in the vicin-
The constant Ao in Eq. (8) will be a function of other geometric
ity of heat transferring surface. The region where the jet strikes
parameters i.e. streamwise pitch to hydraulic diameter ratio (X/Dh),
exhibits higher heat transfer than that of parallel flow due to turbu-
so Nu/Re0.8512 = Ao is plotted on log–log scale as shown in Fig. 13 as
lence generated by the shear between wall jet and surrounding fluid
a function of streamwise pitch to hydraulic diameter ratio (X/Dh)
which is then transported to the boundary layer at heat transferring
and by regression analysis it was obtained as:
surface. The variation of friction factor ratio with Reynolds number
is represented in Fig. 11 and is 3.5 times than that of smooth duct at Nu
¼ Bo ðX=Dh Þ0:1761 ð9Þ
the point where Nusselt number is maximum. Re0:8512
Further, the constant Bo will be a function of other influencing
4.2. Correlations for Nusselt number and friction factor parameters. Considering spanwise pitch to hydraulic diameter ra-
Nu
tio (Y/Dh), the values of Re0:8512 ¼ 0:02337ðX=Dh Þ0:1761 ¼ Bo are plot-
From Figs. 4–9 it can be concluded that Nusselt number and ted in Fig. 14 as a function of (Y/Dh) on log–log scale and from
friction factor are strong functions of flow and geometric parame- the regression analysis through these points, following was
ters, namely Reynolds number (Re), streamwise pitch ratio (X/Dh), obtained:
spanwise pitch ratio (Y/Dh) and jet diameter to hydraulic diameter
ratio (Dj/Dh). Therefore, the functional relationship for Nusselt
number and friction factor can be written as

5.0
3.2
Dj/Dh = 0.043 X/Dh = 1.739 4.8
Enhancement ratio, Nu/Nus

3.0 Dj/Dh = 0.065 Y/Dh = 0.869

4.6
Dj/Dh = 0.087
2.8 Dj/Dh = 1.109 4.4 Nu = A oRe 0.8512

2.6 4.2
ln (Nu)

4.0
2.4
3.8
2.2
3.6
2.0 3.4
1.8 3.2
3.0
1.6
2.8
2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 18000 8.0 8.2 8.4 8.6 8.8 9.0 9.2 9.4 9.6 9.8
Reynolds number, Re ln (Re)

Fig. 10. Variation of enhancement ratio with Reynolds number. Fig. 12. Plot of ln (Nu) as a function of ln (Re) for all the experimental values.
766 R. Chauhan, N.S. Thakur / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 44 (2013) 760–767

" #
-3.2 Nu
ln
Re0:8512 ðX=Dh Þ0:1761 ðY=Dh Þ0:141
0.8512 0.1761
Nu = Bo Re (X/Dh)
-3.4 ¼ ln Do þ D1 lnðDj =Dh Þ þ D2 ðlnðDj =Dh ÞÞ2 ð11Þ
ln {Nu/Re0.8512}

Rearranging Eq. (11) and substituting respective values ob-

-3.6
tained by regression analysis, finally yields the following correla-
tion for Nusselt number.
-3.8
Nu ¼ 1:658  103 Re0:8512 ðX=Dh Þ0:1761 ðY=Dh Þ0:141 ðDj =Dh Þ1:9854
 exp½0:3498ðlnðDj =Dh ÞÞ2 ð12Þ
-4.0
Fig. 16 shows the plot of experimental values and the values
predicted using Eq. (12). The data relevant to this correlation is:
-4.2
-1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0
ln (X/Dh) (a) Average absolute deviation: 3.21%.
(b) Regression coefficient: 0.98.
Fig. 13. Plot of ln {Nu/Re0.8512} = ln (Ao) as a function of ln (X/Dh). (c) Values of constants Ao, Bo, Co, Do, D1, D2 are 0.0273, 0.02337,
0.0292, 6.4021, 1.9854, 0.3498 respectively.

A similar procedure has been employed and a correlation for

-3.4 friction factor has been developed. The correlation for friction fac-
ln {Nu/[Re0.8512 (X/Dh)0.1761]}

Nu = Co Re0.8512(X/Dh)0.1761(Y/Dh)0.141 tor is in the following form:

f ¼ 0:3475Re0:5244 ðX=Dh Þ0:4169 ðY=Dh Þ0:5321 ðDj =Dh Þ1:4848

-3.6
 exp½0:2210ðlnðDj =Dh ÞÞ2  ð13Þ
Fig. 17 shows the comparison of measured values and the val-
-3.8
ues predicted using Eq. (13). The data relevant to this correlation
is:

-4.0 (a) Average absolute deviation: 5.96%.

(b) Regression coefficient: 0.98.
-1.0 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0.0 (c) Values of constants A11, B11, C11, D11 are 3.2217, 0.59191,
ln (Y/Dh) 3.852, 0.3475.

Fig. 14. Plot of ln {Nu/[Re0.8512(X/Dh)0.1761]} = ln (Bo) as a function of ln (Y/Dh). Thus, the correlations developed are satisfactory for the predic-
tion of Nusselt number and friction factor of an impinging jet solar
air heater with fairly good accuracy in the range of investigated
-3.3 parameters. From Eqs. (12) and (13) it can be seen that Reynolds
ln {Nu/[Re0.8512 (X/Dh)0.1761(Y/Dh)0.141]}

0.1761
number has much stronger effect on Nusselt number than on fric-
Nu = Do Re0.8512(X/Dh ) (Y/Dh )0.141(Dj /Dh)-1.9854
-3.4 tion factor compared to other parameters investigated. Also,
X exp[-0.3498{ln(Dj/Dh)}2 ]
streamwise pitch spacing have much stronger effect on Nusselt
-3.5 number than spanwise pitch ratio. Another notable difference lies
in the effect of ratio of jet diameter to hydraulic diameter of the
-3.6 duct, the influence on friction factor is where decreasing due to in-
crease in jet diameter ratio, on Nusselt number the effect is
-3.7 increasing up to Dj/Dh of 0.065 and decreases thereafter as further
increase leads to formation of stagnation region very near to the
-3.8
Nu (predicted from correlation)

120
-3.9
-3.4 -3.2 -3.0 -2.8 -2.6 -2.4 -2.2 -2.0
100
ln (Dj/Dh) +9%

Fig. 15. Plot of ln {Nu/[Re0.8512(X/Dh)0.1761(Y/Dh)0.141]} = ln (Co) as a function of ln 80

(Dj/Dh). -9%
60
Nu
¼ C o ðY=Dh Þ0:141 ð10Þ
Re0:8512 ðX=Dh Þ0:1761 40

where Co is a function of parameter representing ratio of diameter 20

of jet to hydraulic diameter of the rectangular duct. Finally a plot
h i 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
of ln Re0:8512 ðX=D ÞNu
0:1761
ðY=D Þ0:141
¼ C o as a function of Dj/Dh as shown
h h Nu (experimental)
in Fig. 15 has been used to fit on log–log scale through these points,
given as: Fig. 16. Comparison of experimental and predicted values of Nusselt number.
 R. Chauhan, N.S. Thakur / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 44 (2013) 760–767 767

0.08 appreciable heat transfer enhancement has been obtained.

Maximum enhancement in Nusselt number is of the order
of 2.67 and correspondingly the friction factor is 3.5 times.
f (predicted from correlation)

0.06 (b) The maximum enhancement in Nusselt number at Dj/Dh of

+12% 0.065 has been obtained beyond which the interference
effects increases and thereby decreases heat transfer
0.04 performance.
-12% (c) The high heat transfer coefficient achieved is due to the thin
impingement boundary layers generated in the vicinity of
0.02
the heat transferring surface. The impinging jets after
impingement serve to turbulate the surrounding fluid and
thus improve performance of solar air heater. The heat
0.00
transfer enhancement obtained in the present case is at
affordable pumping power requirements.
0.00 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08
(d) Based upon the experimental values, statistical correlations
f (experimental) for Nusselt number and friction factor have been developed
in terms of investigated parameters with average absolute
Fig. 17. Comparison of experimental and predicted values of friction factor.
deviation of 3.21% and 5.96% which reasonably correlate
the experimental data.
120 Miao et al. [20] Dj = 5mm
Kercher and Tabakoff [7] Dj = 5mm
Present study Dj = 5mm References
100 Kercher and Tabakoff [7] Dj = 3mm
Nusselt number, Nu

Present study Dj = 3mm

80
60
40
20
2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 18000
Reynolds number, Re
Fig. 18. Comparison of Nusselt number at different Reynolds number.
impingement plate and the tendency of high velocity jets to ap-
proach the impingement surface prior to interference with the sur-
rounding jets decreases and thus results in lower heat transfer
enhancement. Fig. 18 exhibits the variation of Nusselt number ob-
tained at different jet diameters with Reynolds number, in which
comparison of the present study and the work carried out by
Kercher and Tabakoff [7] and Miao et al. [20] is presented. In the
figure, the calculation was carried out at jet diameter of 3 and
5 mm which shows increase in Nusselt number with increase in
Reynolds number.
5. Conclusions
An experimental study of the flow of air through the holes
impinging normally on the absorber surface in a solar air heater
has been performed. The effect of Reynolds number, geometrical
parameters i.e. streamwise pitch, spanwise pitch, jet diameter each
normalized by hydraulic diameter of the duct, on heat transfer and
friction factor has been studied. The investigation covered a
Reynolds number range of 3800–16,000. The results of the study
are compared with that of smooth duct under similar flow condi-
tions and the following conclusions are drawn:
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(a) The streamwise and spanwise pitches have strong effect on

the formation of impingement boundary layer and hence
on the performance of impinging jet solar air heater. An