Effects of Attack Angle and Relative Thickness of Novel Wing-Shaped Turbulators on Turbulent Hydrothermal Performance in a Two-Pass Square Channel

This work aims to combine the effects of the near-wall and core flow disturbance by proposing novel wing-shaped turbulators. The new turbulators are fabricated with the fused deposition modeling (3D printing) technology. To explore their effects on detailed flow fields, local temperature distributions, and pressure drops in a two-pass square channel, particle image velocimetry (PIV), infrared thermography (IR camera), and pressure transducer measurements are performed. The turbulator pitch, clearance, and truncation gap ratio based on the channel hydraulic diameter of 45.5 mm are, respectively, fixed at 0.7, 0.25, and 0.06. Varied parameters include turbulator attack angle (α = 10 deg, 15 deg, 20 deg, and 30 deg), maximum thickness to chord line ratio (t/C = 0.08, 0.13, 0.16, 0.20, and 0.23), and bulk Reynolds number (Re = 5000–20,000). From the experimental results and flow parameters analyzed, the dimensionless spanwise-averaged mean transverse velocity and cross-sectionally averaged vorticity magnitude are identified to be the most relevant ones to spanwise-averaged local Nusselt number ratio in the first and second pass. Among all examined cases and previous data with Fanning friction factor ratio $(f¯/fo)$ less than 50, the case with α = 20 deg and t/C = 0.20 attains the highest thermal performance factor (TPF) and overall Nusselt number ratio $Nu¯/Nuo$ up to 1.68 and 5.36, respectively. Furthermore, empirical correlations of $Nu¯/Nuo$and$f¯/fo$ versus α, t/C, and Re are proposed.