TURBULENT FLOWS AROUND RECTANGULAR AND TRIANGULAR TURBULATORS IN BAFFLED CHANNELS A Computational Analysis

Abstract

The present paper highlights a computational analysis of air-flows around rectangular and triangular turbulators inside baffled heat exchanger channels in order to improve heat transfer between the fluid and their heated areas. The dynamic and thermal fields as well as fluid temperature curves at the outlet of the exchanger are studied. The computational study is conducted by utilizing SIMPLE algorithm with FLUENT system based on the finite volumes. The analysis clearly demonstrated the presence of highly turbulent flows and the appearance of many vortices in various regions of the exchanger. By comparing the different heat exchangers, it was found that the baffled channel fitted with rectangular turbulators produced high fluid temperature values at the channel outlet, indicating the significance of using this rectangular form of turbulators in order to enhance the interaction between the hot spaces and the used fluid.