Prediction of flow and heat transfer in rotating two-pass rectangular channels with 45° rib turbulators

Numerical predictions of three-dimensional flow and heat transfer are presented for a rotating two-pass rectangular channel with 45° rib turbulators and channel aspect ratio of 2:1. The rib height-to-hydraulic diameter ratio (e/D_h) is 0.094 and the rib-pitch-to-height ratio (P/e) is 10. Two channel orientations are studied: β = 90° and β = 135° corresponding to the mid-portion and the trailing edge regions of a turbine blade, respectively. The focus of this study is twofold; namely, to investigate the effect of the channel aspect ratio and the channel orientation on the nature of the flow and heat transfer enhancement. A multi-block Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) method was employed in conjunction with a near-wall second-moment turbulence closure. In the present method, the convective transport equations for momentum, energy, and turbulence quantities are solved in curvilinear, body-fitted coordinates using the finite-analytic method. The numerical results compare reasonably well with experimental data for both stationary and rotating rectangular channels with rib turbulators at Reynolds number (Re) of 10,000, rotation number (Ro) of 0.11 and inlet coolant-to-wall density ratio (Δρ/ρ) of 0.115.