A numerical study was conducted to investigate the effects of dimple depth on the flow and heat transfer characteristics in a pin fin-dimple channel, where dimples are located spanwisely between the pin fins. The study aimed at promoting the understanding of the underlying convective heat transfer mechanisms in the pin fin-dimple channels and improving the cooling design for the gas turbine components. The flow structure, friction factor, and heat transfer performance of the pin fin-dimple channels with various dimple depths have been obtained and compared with each other for the Reynolds number range of 8200–80,800. The study showed that, compared to the pin fin channel, the pin fin-dimple channels have further improved convective heat transfer performance, and the pin fin-dimple channel with deeper dimples shows relatively higher Nusselt number values. The study still showed a dimple depth-dependent flow friction performance for the pin fin-dimple channels compared to the pin fin channel, and the pin fin-dimple channel with shallower dimples shows relatively lower friction factors over the studied Reynolds number range. Furthermore, the computations showed the detailed characteristics in the distribution of the velocity and turbulence level in the flow, which revealed the underlying mechanisms for the heat transfer enhancement and flow friction reduction phenomenon in the pin fin-dimple channels.
Heat transfer performance of a micro heat pipe array for battery thermal management systems