2017-JSEE-Experimental and CFD Study On Fluid

Journal of Solar Energy Engineering: Including Wind Energy and Building Energy Conservation.
Received January 09, 2017;

Accepted manuscript posted May 17, 2017. doi:10.1115/1.4036775
Copyright (c) 2017 by ASME
Journal of Solar Energy Engineering SOL-17-1014
Experimental and CFD study on fluid

flow and heat transfer in triangular
passage solar air heater of different
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configurations
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Rajneesh Kumar1
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National Institute of Technology
Mechanical Engineering Department, Hamirpur, India.
rajneesh127.nith@gmail.com
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Varun
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varun7go@gmail.com
ASME Member
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Prof. Anoop Kumar

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anoop@nith.ac.in
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ABSTRACT
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The fluid flow characteristics and heat transfer in triangular duct solar air heater (SAH)
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has been studied experimentally and numerically for Reynolds number range from 4000
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to 18000. In the present paper, three different models of triangular duct solar air heater
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were considered, namely, Model 1 with simple triangular duct, Model 2 with rounded
corner on one side of the triangle with fixed radius of curvature of 0.39 times the duct
1
Rajneesh Kumar, MED, NIT Hamirpur, India
Contant no: +91-8679938484
Kumar SOL-17-1014 1
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Journal of Solar Energy Engineering: Including Wind Energy and Building Energy Conservation. Received January 09, 2017;
height as flow passage, and Model 3 with rounded corner on one side of the triangular
duct with roughness on the absorber plate of SAH. The absorber plate and apex angle
value is assumed as constant in all three models of SAH i.e., 160 mm and 60°,
respectively. The three dimensional numerical simulations were performed by
d
discretization of computational domain using finite volume method (FVM) and are
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analyzed with the help of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code. Experiments were
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performed to validate numerical results by comparing absorber plate temperature along
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the length of the SAH. A detailed analysis of different models of solar air heater was
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carried out by solving flow governing equations numerically on ANSYS Fluent 12.1. A
close match has been observed between the simulated and experimental results of SAH
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with maximum percentage deviation of approximately ±5% in absorber plate
temperature. The rounded apex improves velocity distribution near the corner region and
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helps in improving heat transfer. In three studied models of solar air heater, the best
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sc
performance is observed in the case of Model-3.

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1. Introduction
Radiations emitted by sun have huge potential as source of energy on earth. The solar air
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heater (SAH) is designed in such a way that they collect radiations which comes from
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Sun and is used in many applications such as drying crops and space heating for comfort
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in winter [1]. In SAH, the absorber plate gets heated by solar radiation and heat of
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absorber plate is carried away by the air flowing through SAH passage. Different designs
of SAH were proposed in recent years such as single pass flow [2], double pass flow [3,
4], unglazed [5], v-corrugated [6, 7], cross-corrugated [8], matrix type [9, 10], packed bed
Kumar SOL-17-1014 2

etc. [11, 12]. The SAH can also be designed on the basis of flow channel shape such as
semi-circular [13], triangular [14, 15] and rectangular [16-18].
In recent years, several researches have been carried out to improve overall performance
of rectangular duct SAH and most of them concluded that the performance of SAH can
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be improved by using artificial roughness [19-25]. The use of artificial roughness
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increases thermal performance along with friction factor which increases pumping power
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of air through the passage of SAH. However, the friction factor value is low in triangular
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shape duct as compared to rectangular shaped duct and it requires less external effort to
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force fluid through the duct [26]. Moreover, the heat transfer through the triangular duct
can be improved without using artificial roughness by doing simple modification in shape
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of the duct such as varying apex angle, hydraulic diameters and rounding of corners [27].
Eckert and Low [28] examined the local heat transfer coefficient in triangular duct for
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Reynolds number (Re) range from 77,000 to 120,000. They concluded that heat transfer
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sc
coefficient has maximum value at the centre and it decreases to minimum at the corner
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region and there is formation of high temperature regions at the corners. The value of
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heat transfer coefficient is strongly dependent on the corner angle [29]. The low heat
transfer coefficient at the corners is due to existence of laminar flow even under turbulent
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flow through the duct [30, 31]. Ray and Misra [32] and Chakraborty and Ray [33] had
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examined the performance of square and triangular cross-sectional passage for laminar
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flow conditions and they suggested that the heat transfer coefficient of air through the
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sharp corner duct can be improved by rounding of the corners [32-33]. However, the
effect of rounded corner is not discussed for turbulent flow and no literature is available
Kumar SOL-17-1014 3

which investigates that the effect of rounded corner SAH on thermal performance and
pressure drop.
2. Problem description
In this study, an attempt has been made to study the thermal performance of triangular
d
passage solar air heater (TPSAH) by modifying the shape of flow passage. Three
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different models of SAH are studied in the present work. The details description of
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different models of SAH is given in Table 1.
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The Model-1 is a simple triangular flow passage SAH and this model is used for
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comparison purpose. Whereas, in other two models (Model-2 and Model-3), the flow
passage of SAH has been modified by replacing sharp corner (opposite to absorber plate)
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with arc. The radius of curvature of the SAH passage is calculated from the centroid of
triangular inlet cross-section. The radius of curvature (Rc) is kept constant in Model-2 and
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Model-3 and its value is 0.393 times the height of the duct. The Model-3 consists of
r
sc
circular shape roughness elements over the absorber plate with constant relative
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roughness height (e/D) of 0.02 and relative roughness pitch (P/e) value varies from 4 to
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16. The one side of the duct is exposed to constant heat flux of 1000 Wm-2 by heating it
with electric heater. The study is carried out for fixed range of Reynolds number (Re)
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from 4000 to 18000. The results are presented in the form of heat transfer coefficient (h)
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and pressure drop (ΔP).

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3. Experimental setup and procedure:

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The design and fabrication of three different models of triangular duct SAH was carried
out in the present work. The details of the three different models of SAH passage is given
in Table 1 and schematically presented in Fig. 1(a-c). The pictorial view of fabricated
Kumar SOL-17-1014 4

experimental setup is shown in Fig. 2 and it consists of three different sections, namely,
entrance, test, and exit. The design of experimental setup is done in such a way that the
flow achieves fully developed turbulent flow conditions at the inlet of the test section
[33]. Therefore, length of the entrance section considered is greater than 5 WH . In order
d
ite
to minimize the losses at the outer portion of the test section the exit section length is
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kept more than 2.5 WH . The detail of the geometric and operating parameters is given
in Table 2.
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The ambient air is sucked by the centrifugal blower from the entrance section of the
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passage. The mass flow rate through the SAH is controlled by the controlling valve
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placed at the blower outlet. Depending on the air mass flow rate the Reynolds number
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through the passage is varied from 4000 to 18000. The mass flow rate of air through the
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SAH passage is measured with the help of an orifice meter and micro-manometer. The
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passage of SAH is connected to the centrifugal blower with the help of circular pipe and
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plenum.
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The presence of blower at the exit section produces vibration in the SAH and in order to
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take care of this problem, the flexible pipe is used to connect the centrifugal blower with
the SAH passage. The length of the flexible pipe is kept long enough so that it could not
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affect the performance of SAH by producing vibrations.

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The top side of the triangular shape passage (i.e., absorber plate) is heated by maintaining
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constant heat flux of 1000 Wm-2. An electric heater is designed and fabricated for
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generating constant heat flux at the absorber plate. It is fabricated using nichrome wires
as heating element. The nichrome wires are wrapped over the asbestos sheet in series and
Kumar SOL-17-1014 5

parallel loop arrangements. The whole electric heater assembly is covered with mica
sheet to maintain constant heat flux condition at the absorber plate in test section.
The circular shape roughness elements are fabricated over the absorber plate. The
roughness parameters such as relative roughness pitch (P/e) value ranges from 4-16 and
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relative roughness height (e/D) kept constant at 0.02, respectively. The schematic view of
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roughness elements over the absorber plate of SAH is shown in Fig. 2(c).
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4. Computational fluid dynamics simulations
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With the help of computational fluid dynamics (CFD), the fluid flow pattern and
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temperature distribution in complex geometries can be examined easily. In CFD, the flow
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governing equations (continuity, momentum and energy equations) are solved
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numerically using finite volume approach (FVM). The control volume is sub-divided in
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to finitely small grids points and flow governing equations are solved at each grid point
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to calculate velocity and temperature field [34]. In this work, the CFD model, meshing,
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the numerical simulations and the results are obtained using commercial ANSYS
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FLUENT 12.1 software. The analysis is performed with following assumptions;

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a. Flow is steady, turbulent and incompressible.

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b. Properties (both physical and thermal) of air and absorber plate are not varying
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with the flow.

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c. Flow is having no-slip conditions at the wall and fluid interface region.
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Governing equations
The motion of fluid is modeled with the help of continuity, momentum and energy
equations. These can be expressed as,
Kumar SOL-17-1014 6

Continuity equation;
 0
 u j (1)
x j
Momentum equation;
d
    P 
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   ui u j  
 ui u j  u u j  2 (2)
   t  i    k ij 
x j xi x j   x j xi   x j xi  3 
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  
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Energy equation;
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   T   (3)
 keff  u j P  Et   0
x j   x j  

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Turbulence
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The turbulence is mathematically modeled by solving Navier-Stokes equations. It is quite

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important to use appropriate turbulence model for modeling turbulent behavior of the
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fluid in order to predict accurate results. In the present work turbulence is modeled by
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using k - ε model based on renormalization group (RNG) theory which is a statistical

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technique. The k and ε shows turbulent kinetic energy and dissipation rate respectively.
This model is widely used to analyze flow separation, complex swirl flow and vortex
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generated secondary flow. Moreover, this model is less time consuming in comparison to
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Large Eddy Simulations (LES) and Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) [35]. The
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equations used to present transport phenomena and are given below;

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kui    
 k eff k   Gk    0
(5)

xi x j  x j 

Kumar SOL-17-1014 7

 ui    
  eff    C1` Gk  C2    R
2 (6)

xi x j  x j  k k

In eq. (5) and (6), Gk and eff represents turbulent kinetic energy and effective turbulent
viscosity and are expressed as:
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ite
u j (7)

Gk    ui u j  xi
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 k2  (8)
eff    t     C 
  
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Meshing overview
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The simple schematic presentation of triangular duct SAH is shown in Fig. 3. The
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different models of SAH, namely, Model -1, Model-2, and Model-3 are modeled and
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their performance is analyzed. The 3D CFD model is developed in ANSYS Design

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Modeler and its meshing is developed with the help of ANSYS ICEM CFD module
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available in commercial ANSYS 12.1 software as shown in Fig. 4. For accuracy mesh
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density near the wall region is varied from coarse to fine grid size. Furthermore, the
number of nodes is varied from 3,75,946 to 11,97,134. The detail of mesh size and
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meshing type used in present work is given in Table 3. The unstructured non-uniform
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tetrahedral grids are generated in computational domain and fine grids are placed near the
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hot surface in order to resolve laminar sub-layers accurately [34].

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Boundary conditions
The computational domain is designed in such a way that air enters the duct with certain
velocity depending on Reynolds number (Re) which varies from 4000 to 18000. Thus,
Kumar SOL-17-1014 8

inlet of duct is considered as velocity inlet boundary with velocity variation from 1.9 to
11.7 ms-1. The outlet is assumed as pressure outlet with zero gauge pressure value. The
one side of duct is conducting and other two sides are non-conducting in nature. The
constant heat flux is applied on the conducting side of the SAH. The intensity of
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turbulence for fully developed flow is estimated by following empirical formula [35].
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0.16 (7)
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I
Re  18
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It is assumed that with increase in air temperature, the thermal conductivity of working
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fluid (i.e. air) duct remains constant. At the interface of solid and fluid bodies, no-slip
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conditions were assumed [36]. tN
Due to turbulent nature of flow, it is assumed that the formation of viscous sublayer takes
place over the walls of SAH passage and for modeling the effect of viscous sublayer,
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particular attention should be given during the mesh generation near wall region. The
sc
distance of first cell from the wall should be in the range of 30-60 [37]. The parameter
nu
which predicts the dimensionless distance from the wall to the first cell is presented by
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y  (y plus) and it is calculated as

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 y (8)
y     

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Where,  is the frictional velocity and in present analysis, the y  value is ranges in
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between 30 to 60.
Solution strategy
Kumar SOL-17-1014 9

The details of the mathematical models used for analysis is given in Table 4. The
computational (solution) domain is sub-divided into small grid of finite number and flow
governing equations such as continuity, momentum and energy are solved at all grid
points to predict heat transfer. The numerical equations are solved till they achieve
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minimum convergence level and criterion of convergence is different for different
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equations which is given in Table 5. The governing equations are discretized using
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segregated grid method and solved using upwind scheme of second order. The flow
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turbulence is modeled with the help of RNG k-ε turbulence model and accuracy of
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solution is ensured by using enhanced wall function for viscous heating and thermal
effects. The pressure and viscosity liked equation are solved using semi-implicit method
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for pressure linked equation (SIMPLE) algorithm [38].
5. Results and Discussion

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The experimental and numerical study was carried out to analyze the fluid flow and heat
r
sc
transfer in triangular duct solar air heat (SAH). The numerical analysis was done by
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developing code on commercial computational fluid dynamic based software ANSYS

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Fluent 12.1.
Grid independence study

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The grid independence study was carried out using different grid element size values. The
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number of grid elements were varied from 3,75,946 to 1,19,17,134. The main motive of
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doing grid refinement study is to ensure that the results are independent of the number of
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grids. In present work, the grid independence test was carried out on Model-1. The grid
element size was varied from the 2×10-3 m to 0.5×10-3 m and tetrahedral grid was
generated in the computational domain. The detail of grid refinement study is given in
Kumar SOL-17-1014 10

Table 6. It is observed from the table that with the refinement of grid elements the results
get closer to Dittus-Boelter equation and after 1,19,17,134 number of grid points there is
only variation of around ±5% with Dittus-Boelter equation. Therefore, in present work,
1,19,17,134 number of grid elements were considered as sufficient to simulate the
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problem.
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Validation of numerical simulations
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The numerical results and the accuracy of methods used to simulate the problem were
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validated by performing experiments. The validation of numerical simulation was done
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by using parameter of local temperature of absorber along the length of test section and
they are compared with the values obtained by the experiments.
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Fig. 5 shows the experimental and numerical variation of absorber plate temperature
along the length of the absorber plate at Reynolds number value of 12000. The
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numerically predicted values of absorber plate temperature along the length of the test
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section shows good agreement with the values determined by the experiments. The
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absorber plate temperature in case of Model -1 was observed to be maximum because in

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absence of rounded corner and roughness the main stream of the fluid could not get
interact effectively with the absorber plate of the SAH. The Model-3 considered in this
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case has relative roughness pitch (P/e) of 12 and relative roughness height (e/D) of 0.02.
pt
Due to this, more amount of heat is extracted by air from the hot surface. The rounded
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apex also plays an important role in the heat transfer from the absorber plate, therefore,
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the temperature of the absorber plate in case of Model-2 has comparatively lower
temperature than sharp corner triangular SAH i.e., Model-1. Thus, it can be concluded

that the rounded corner enhances heat transfer through the triangular passage and
improves its thermal performance.
Velocity distribution
The velocity distribution in different models of triangular duct SAH was examined under
d
constant heat flux of 1000 Wm-2 at Reynolds number value of 12000. The fluid velocity
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near the corner region gets suppressed due to presence of laminar flow even under
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turbulent flow conditions [30, 31]. Due to this heat couldn’t get transferred near the
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corner regions and formation of higher temperature region takes place [28].
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Fig. 6 shows the velocity distribution inside the three different SAH passages at
dimensionless length of z ltest . It is observed that the different models of SAH have
ot
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different velocity profile inside the passage. The maximum dimensionless velocity (ratio
between local and mean velocity) is of the order of 0.95 and it is found in case of Model
ip
3, due to the presence of both roughness (which causes turbulence) and rounded apex.
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Whereas, in case of Model 1 and Model 2 have maximum dimensionless velocity value
nu
of 0.71 and 0.82, respectively. Because of rounded apex the velocity near the corners
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region gets increased and therefore, the dimensionless velocity magnitude is higher in
case of Model 2 as compared to Model 1. Near the corner (let say x 2a =0.4), the
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dimensionless velocity value is 0.098, 0.158, and 0.208 in Model-1, Model-2, and Model-
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3, respectively. The velocity magnitude in Model-2 and Model-3 is approximately 1.16

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and 2.13 times higher than that of Model 1. Thus, rounded apex improves the velocity
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magnitude near the corner region of triangular passage SAH.
Variation of average Nusselt number (Nu)

The heat transfer for the different models is examined in terms of average Nusselt
number values. The average value of Nusselt number is examined at different Reynolds
number values from 4000 to 18000. Fig. 7 shows the variation of average Nu with
Reynolds number (Re) for different models of SAH. The average Nusselt number is
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observed minimum in case of simple triangular duct SAH i.e., Model-1 and therefore,
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other two models were compared with this model. In case of Model-2 and Model-3 the
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maximum Nusselt number value is observed to be 1.16 and 2.482 times more than the
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Model-1 at Reynolds number value of 18000. The average Nu in the triangular duct is
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improved by both roughness and rounded apex corner. The rounded corner of Model-2
improves fluid flow through the duct, whereas, roughness in case of Model-3 increases
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local turbulence which results in better interaction of main fluid with the heated absorber
plate. Based on Nusselt number, Model-3 is observed to be best as compared to other two
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models under given conditions of flow parameters.

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Variation of Friction factor (f)

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The flow characteristics in the different models of SAH studied in terms of average
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friction factor (f) values through the duct. Fig. 8 shows the variation of f in different
models of SAH. The maximum frictional loss along the length is observed in case of
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Model-3, because it consists of roughness over the absorber plate which creates local
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turbulence and increases pressure drop in the duct [21]. The minimum frictional loss is
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observed in Model-1 and in case of Model-2, the value of f lies in between Model-1 and
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Model-3. Although, the roughness and rounded apex increases pressure drop through the
duct but they increase heat transfer and velocity distribution near the corners. Moreover,
the value of f increases with increase of Re.

Effect of roughness
In the present work the effect of relative roughness pitch on friction factor and Nu was
studied in Model-3 of SAH. In this case, relative roughness pitch (P/e) value was varied
from 4 to 16, whereas relative roughness height (e/D) of the roughness element was
d
assumed to be constant i.e., 0.02. The value of P/e was varied from 4 to 16 (in four sets
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i.e. 4, 8, 12 and 16) but e/D value was kept constant i.e. 0.02.
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The variation of Nu with Re for different P/e values is shown in Fig. 9. It is observed
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from the figure that with increase of Re, Nu increases and maximum Nu is seen at higher
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Re values i.e. 18000 (in present case). The P/e also plays a significant role in the
variation of Nu value. With increase in P/e value from 4 to 12, Nu increases but when
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P/e value was increased from 12 to 16, the Nu starts decreasing. Therefore, it is
concluded that the maximum Nu can be achieved at P/e value of 12 and further variation
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(both increase and decrease) in P/e value results in decrease of Nu. This is due to
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sc
reattachment points which depend on P/e value. When P/e value is low then the spacing
nu
between two successive ribs is small and number of ribs over the absorber plate is more.
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Thus, more reattachment points are formed over the absorber plate and results in higher
Nu value. But when P/e<12 then the reattachment points are so close that they do not
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help the flow to interact with hot surface and results in low Nu value and when P/e value
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is 12, then the number of reattachment points are far away from each other which doesn’t
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result in efficient heat transfer [39]. The reattachment of flow over the absorber plate is
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shown in Fig. 10(a-d).
The variation of f with Re for different P/e values at fixed e/D value is shown in Fig. 11.
The f decreases with increase of Re value. The f also varies with P/e value but maximum f

is observed for P/e value of 12. In comparison to smooth duct a significant higher f is
observed in roughened SAH due to generation of local turbulence because of ribs over
the absorber plate.
Conclusion
d
The fluid flow characteristics and heat transfer through the triangular duct SAH was
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studied both numerically and experimentally for Reynolds number range of 4000 to
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18000. Three different models of triangular duct SAH were studied. Depending on the
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results, it is observed that the rounded corner and roughness over the absorber plate
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promotes fluid interaction near the corner region. Due to this, more amount of heat get
extracted from the absorber plate and improves thermal performance of triangular duct
ot
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SAH.
The Model-3 which contains both rounded corner and roughness over the absorber plate
ip
give best thermal performance as compared to other studied models of SAH. The
r
sc
maximum heat transfer augmentation is observed of the order of 2.48 times more than the
nu
simple triangular duct SAH at Reynolds number of 18000. Therefore, rounded corner
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triangular duct SAH with roughness element is suggested as best model for application
purpose.
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The roughness parameters such as relative roughness pitch and relative roughness height
pt
plays crucial role in the thermal performance of SAH. On the basis of results, it is
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observed that the relative roughness pitch value of 12 gives best thermal performance as
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compared to other value i.e., 4, 8, 16. For relative roughness pitch value of 12, the
maximum percentage enhancement of the order of 187% is observed over the smooth
duct at Reynolds number value of 12000, whereas, in case of Relative roughness value of

4, 8, and 16, it is 107%, 148%, and 128% at similar Reynolds number. Therefore, it is
suggested to use relative roughness pitch value of 12 for best thermal performance
results.
NOMENCLATURE
d
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Dh Hydraulic diameter (m)
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h Coefficient of convective heat transfer (W m-1 K-1)
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K Thermal conductivity (W m-1 K-1)
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L Length (m)
P Pressure drop (Nm)
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T Temperature (K)
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u Local velocity (m s-1)

r
Mean velocity (m s-1)

sc
U
nu
x,y,z Coordinates (m)

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Dimensionless terms
f Friction factor
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Nu Nusselt number
pt
ce
Pr Prandtl number
Ac
Re Reynolds number
e/D Relative roughness height
P/e Relative roughness pitch

Greek Symbols
 Apex angle of triangular duct
ρ Density (kg m-3)
d
μ Dynamic viscosity (Nm s-1)
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μeff Effective turbulent viscosity (Nm s-1)
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ε Turbulent dissipation rate (m2 s-3)
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k Turbulent kinetic coefficient (m2s-2)
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Subscript
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ent Entrance section (m)
tN
exit Exit section (m)
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test Test section (m)

r
sc
nu
References:
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[1] Kalgirou, S.A., 2014, “Solar energy engineering: Processes and System, 2nd ed.,
Academic Press, Cambridge.

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[2] Mohammadi, K., and Sabzpooshani, M., 2013, “comprehensive performance

pt
evaluation and parametric studies of single pass heater with fins and baffles attached over
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the absorber plate”, Energy, 57, pp. 741-750.

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[3] Persad, P., and Satcunanathan, S., 2013, “The thermal performance of the two-pass,
two-glass-cover solar air heater”, Trans. ASME Journal of Solar Energy Engineering,
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[4] Chamoli, S., Chauhan, R., Thakur, N.S., and Saini, J.S., 2012, “A review of the
performance of double pass solar air heater”, Renewable and Sustainable Energy
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[5] Gawlik, K., Christensen, C., and Kutscher, C., 2005, “A numerical and experimental
d
investigation of low-conductivity unglazed, transpired solar air heaters”, ASME Journal
ite
of Solar Energy Engineering, 127, pp. 153-155.
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[6] Kabeel, A.E., Khalil, A., Shalaby, S.M., and Zayed, M.E., 2016, “Investigation of the
py
thermal performances of flat, finned, and v-corrugated plate solar air heaters”, ASME
Co
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nu
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Ac

Figure Captions List
Fig. 1 (a) Schematic view of Model-1SAH

(b) Schematic view of Model-2 SAH
(c) Schematic view of Model-3 SAH
d
Fig. 2 Pictorial view of fabricated experimental setup
ite
Fig. 3 Schematic presentation of SAH used for CFD simulation
ed
Fig. 4 3D meshed model of circular rib roughened rounded corner triangular duct
Fig. 5 Experimentally and numerical variation of absorber plate temperature in
py
case of different models of SAH at Reynolds number value of 12000
Co
Fig. 6 Distribution of velocity inside the duct at dimensionless length of z / l test
Fig. 7 Variation of average Nusselt number with Reynolds number for different
ot
models of SAH tN
Fig. 8 Variation of average friction factor with Reynolds number for different
models of SAH
ip
Fig. 9 Variation of average Nusselt number with Reynolds number for different
r
sc
relative roughness pitch values of SAH

Fig. 10 (a) Flow reattachment due to roughness over the absorber plate in case
nu
of P/e value of 4 at Reynolds number value of 12000

Ma
(b) Flow reattachment due to roughness over the absorber plate in case
(c) Flow reattachment due to roughness over the absorber plate in case
ed

pt
(d) Flow reattachment due to roughness over the absorber plate in case
ce

Fig. 11 Variation of average friction factor value with Reynolds number for
Ac
different relative roughness pitch values of SAH

Absorber
plate
Voutlet
d
ite
ed
Vin
py
Co
Figure 1(a): Schematic view of Model-1SAH
ot
tN
Absorber
plate
ip
Vout
r
sc
nu
Ma
Rc
ed
Vin
pt
Figure 1(b): Schematic view of Model-2 SAH

ce
Ac

Absorber
plate
d
Vout
ite
ed
py
Co
Rc
Vin
ot
tN
Figure 1(c): Schematic view of Model-3 SAH
r ip
sc
Heater
nu
Plenum
Ma
ed
Thermocouples
pt
Outlet to blower
ce
Selector switch Rounded corner

Ac
Figure 2: Pictorial view of fabricated experimental setup

Absorber
plate
~ ~
d
ite
ed
Plane of
symmetry
py
Co
y
ot
z tN
x
ip
Figure 3: Schematic presentation of SAH used for CFD simulation

r
sc
nu
Ma
ed
pt
ce
Ac
Figure 4: 3D meshed model of circular rib roughened rounded corner triangular duct

d
ite
ed
py
Co
ot
Figure 5: Experimentally and numerical variation of absorber plate temperature in case
tN
of different models of SAH at Reynolds number value of 12000.
r ip
sc
nu
Ma
ed
pt
ce
Ac
Figure 6: Distribution of velocity inside the duct at dimensionless length of z / l test

d
ite
ed
py
Co
ot
Figure 7: Variation of average Nusselt number with Reynolds number for different
models of SAH
tN
r ip
sc
nu
Ma
ed
pt
ce
Ac
Figure 8: Variation of average friction factor with Reynolds number for different models
of SAH

d
ite
ed
py
Co
ot
Figure 9: Variation of average Nusselt number with Reynolds number for different
tN
r ip
sc
nu
Ma
Figure 10(a): Flow reattachment due to roughness over the absorber plate in case of P/e
value of 4 at Reynolds number value of 12000.
ed
pt
ce
Ac
Figure 10(b): Flow reattachment due to roughness over the absorber plate in case of P/e

d
ite
Figure 10(c): Flow reattachment due to roughness over the absorber plate in case of P/e
ed
py
Co
ot
tN
Figure 10(d): Flow reattachment due to roughness over the absorber plate in case of P/e
r ip
sc
nu
Ma
ed
pt
ce
Ac
Figure 11: Variation of average friction factor value with Reynolds number for different

Table Caption List
Table 1 Description of different models of triangular passage SAH
Table 2 List of geometric and operating parameters
d
ite
Table 3 Meshing details of 3D CFD model of SAH
ed
Table 4 Details of mathematical models used for modeling SAH numerically
py
using CFD
Co
Table 5 Solution convergence criteria for flow governing equations
Details of grid refinement study which is carried for triangular duct SAH
ot
Table 6 tN
r ip
sc
nu
Table 1: Description of different models of triangular passage SAH

Ma
S. No. Model name Model detail

1. Model -1 SAH with simple triangular cross-sectional flow
ed
passage.
2. Model -2 SAH with modified triangular cross-sectional flow
pt
passage having one rounded corner opposite to absorber

plate.
ce
3. Model -3 SAH with one rounded corner flow passage and

having roughness over the absorber plate.
Ac

Table 2: List of geometric and operating parameters
S. Value/ Range
Parameters
No. Model -1 Model - 2 Model - 3
Geometric parameters
d
1. Entrance section length (lent.), mm 900
ite
2. Test section length (ltest), mm 1000
3. Exit section length (lexit), mm 700
ed
4. Total section length (ltotal), mm 2600
5. Duct height (H), mm 138.56
py
Side length of equilateral passage
6. 160
(a), mm
7. Apex angle (θ°) 60°
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Circular shape
No No roughness
8. Detail of roughness parameters
roughness roughness with e/D=0.02
ot
and P/e=4-16
9. Number of rounded corners 0 1 1
tN
10. Radius of curvature (Rc) 0 0.39H 0.39H
Operating parameters
ip
1. Temperature of ambient air (Ta) 300 K

2. Prandtl number (Pr) 0.7441
r
sc
3. Reynolds number (Re) 4000 to 18000

4. Heat flux (q˝) 1000 Wm-2
nu
Ma
Table 3: Meshing details of 3D CFD model of SAH

ed
Element size
pt
S. Computational Maximum Minimum y  value

Meshing type
No. domain size (×10- size(×10-3) (mean)
ce
3
)
1. Model 1 1.5 0.25 30-45
Tetrahedral grid
Ac
2. Model 2 2.0 0.5 40-60

generation
3. Model 3 2.0 0.2 30-40

Table 4: Details of mathematical models used for modeling SAH numerically using CFD
S. No. Process Mathematical models

1. Mathematical approach Finite volume method
2. Solving grid type Staggered grid system
3. Solver type Pressure-based, steady state
4. Turbulent flow k   RNG model
d
5. Numerical methods:
ite
a. Discretization of momentum, energy, Second order upwind scheme
turbulent kinetic energy and turbulence
ed
dissipation rate
b. Iterative algorithm Implicit-Gauss-Seidel method
py
c. Pressure-velocity coupling SIMPLE algorithm
Co
Table 5: Solution convergence criteria for flow governing equations
ot
tN
S. No. Governing Convergence
equation criteria
10-4
ip
1. Continuity
2. Momentum 10-4
r
3. Energy 10-6
sc
nu
Ma
Table 6: Details of grid refinement study which is carried for triangular duct SAH
ed
Reynolds Nusselt number

pt
number
S. No. Dittus- Number of grid elements
ce
Boelter
375946 588967 716931 925589 1197134
equation
Ac
1 4000 15.27 12.46 13.15 14.58 15.18 15.14

2 8000 26.59 21.26 23.46 25.12 26.41 26.49
3 12000 36.77 31.01 33.12 35.04 36.52 36.67
4 16000 46.29 40.128 43.29 45.87 45.99 46.11
5 18000 50.87 45.13 47.85 48.92 49.88 50.59

2017-JSEE-Experimental and CFD Study On Fluid

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Journal of Solar Energy Engineering: Including Wind Energy and Building Energy Conservation.

Received January 09, 2017;

Experimental and CFD study on fluid

Prof. Anoop Kumar

Mechanical Engineering Department, Hamirpur, India.

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respectively. The three dimensional numerical simulations were performed by

performance is observed in the case of Model-3.

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semi-circular [13], triangular [14, 15] and rectangular [16-18].

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and pressure drop (ΔP).

3. Experimental setup and procedure:

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affect the performance of SAH by producing vibrations.

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FLUENT 12.1 software. The analysis is performed with following assumptions;

a. Flow is steady, turbulent and incompressible.

with the flow.

equations. These can be expressed as,

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The turbulence is mathematically modeled by solving Navier-Stokes equations. It is quite

using k - ε model based on renormalization group (RNG) theory which is a statistical

equations used to present transport phenomena and are given below;

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viscosity and are expressed as:

their performance is analyzed. The 3D CFD model is developed in ANSYS Design

hot surface in order to resolve laminar sub-layers accurately [34].

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y  (y plus) and it is calculated as

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5. Results and Discussion

developing code on commercial computational fluid dynamic based software ANSYS

Grid independence study

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1,19,17,134 number of grid elements were considered as sufficient to simulate the

they are compared with the values obtained by the experiments.

absorber plate temperature in case of Model -1 was observed to be maximum because in

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improves its thermal performance.

3, respectively. The velocity magnitude in Model-2 and Model-3 is approximately 1.16

magnitude near the corner region of triangular passage SAH.

Variation of average Nusselt number (Nu)

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models under given conditions of flow parameters.

Variation of Friction factor (f)

the value of f increases with increase of Re.

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shown in Fig. 10(a-d).

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the absorber plate.

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P Pressure drop (Nm)

u Local velocity (m s-1)

Mean velocity (m s-1)

x,y,z Coordinates (m)

e/D Relative roughness height

P/e Relative roughness pitch

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 Apex angle of triangular duct

ρ Density (kg m-3)

test Test section (m)