Title: Effect of centred hole angular ribs roughness on the solar collector performance in a square tube

Authors: Suvanjan Bhattacharyya; Kunal Dey; Devendra Kumar Vishwakarma; Varun Goel; Mohsen Sharifpur

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Pilani Campus, Vidya Vihar, Pilani, Rajasthan, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Pilani Campus, Vidya Vihar, Pilani, Rajasthan, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Pilani Campus, Vidya Vihar, Pilani, Rajasthan, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh, India ' School of Mechanical, Industrial and Aeronautical Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Wits 2050, South Africa; Department of Medical Research, China Medical University Hospital, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan

Abstract: The numerical study assessed the heat transfer and pressure drop in an evenly heated square duct with plane and perforated ribs. Working fluid is air with Reynolds number (Re) 10,000-80,000. The pitch ratio (y), the dimensionless spacing between ribs relative to hydraulic diameter, is 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5. Rib inclination angles (θ) from the downstream duct wall range from 30° to 60°. The hole ratio (h) is 0.1 to 0.2, depending on perforation size and hydraulic diameter. In all configurations, the heat transfer improvement is maximum at Re = 10,000 and gradually decreases with rising Re. The thermal performance factors (η) for Re = 10,000 vary between 1.4 and 2.2, depending on configuration. The highest η is found at θ = 60°, y = 0.5, h = 0.2. At Re = 40,000, all configurations have η values over 1. The thermal performance for Re = 80,000 is moderate (η ≈ 1.03) for θ = 60°, y = 0.5, h = 0.2. Other configurations provide lower values that are barely over unity.

Keywords: rib roughness; solar collector; square channel; inclination angle; pitch ratio.

DOI: 10.1504/PCFD.2025.146021

Progress in Computational Fluid Dynamics, An International Journal, 2025 Vol.25 No.3, pp.176 - 188

Received: 31 Jan 2023
Accepted: 02 May 2024
Published online: 01 May 2025 *

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