NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF TURBULENT FLUID FLOW AND HEAT TRANSFER CHARACTERISTICS IN A RECTANGULAR POROUS CHANNEL WITH PERIODICALLY SPACED HEATED BLOCKS

In this study, numerical simulations have been carried out to investigate the three-dimensional turbulent fluid flow and heat transfer behaviors associated with a sintered porous channel that contains periodically-spaced heated blocks. The turbulent governing equations are solved by a control volume-based finite-difference with appropriate averaging for diffusion coefficients is used to solve the coupling between solid, fluid and porous regions. The semi-implicit method for pressure-linked equation (SIMPLE) algorithm was used to couple the pressure and velocities. A comprehensive numerical investigation of fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics have been carried out for different values of Reynolds number (Re), the average bead diameter (d), the relative block height (h/H), the relative block width (wb/H), and the relative block spacing (s/H). The effects of variation of these parameters are detailed to illustrate important fundamental and practical results. The local distribution of Nusselt number along the periphery of blocks indicates that Nub has maximal value at the upper corners because of fluid acceleration. In general, for the range of parameters studied, the block average Nusselt number increases with the increase of Reynolds number or s/H. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that the local Nusselt number distribution along the periphery of block surface is affected considerably by the relevant parameters.