Rib Heat Transfer Coefficient Measurements in a Rib-Roughened Square Passage

Three staggered 90 deg rib geometries corresponding to blockage ratios of 0.133, 0.167, and 0.25 were tested for pitch-to-height ratios of 5, 8.5, and 10, and for two distinct thermal boundary conditions of heated and unheated channel walls. Comparisons were made between the surface-averaged heat transfer coefficients and friction factors for ribs with rounded corners and those with sharp corners, reported previously. Heat transfer coefficients of the furthest upstream rib and that of a typical rib located in the middle of the rib-roughened region of the passage wall were also compared. It was concluded that: (a) For the geometries tested, the rib average heat transfer coefficient was much higher than that for the area between the ribs. For the sharp-corner ribs, the rib average heat transfer coefficient increased with blockage ratio. However, when the corners were rounded, the trend depended on the level of roundness. (b) High-blockage-ratio (e/D_h = 0.25) ribs were insensitive to the pitch-to-height ratio. For the other two blockage ratios, the pitch-to-height ratio of 5 produced the lowest heat transfer coefficient. Results of the other two pitch-to-height ratios were very close, with the results of S/e = 10 slightly higher than those of S/e = 8.5. (c) Under otherwise identical conditions, ribs in the furthest upstream position produced lower heat transfer coefficients for all cases except that of the smallest blockage ratio with S/e of 5. In that position, for the rib geometries tested, while the sharp-corner rib average heat transfer coefficients increased with the blockage ratio, the trend of the round-corner ribs depended on the level of roundness, r/e. (d) Thermal performance decreased with the blockage ratio. While the smallest rib geometry at a pitch-to-height ratio of 10 had the highest thermal performance, thermal performance of high blockage ribs at a pitch-to-height ratio of 5 was the lowest. (e) The general effects of rounding were a decrease in heat transfer coefficient for the midstream ribs and an increase in heat transfer coefficient for ribs in the furthest upstream position.