Effect of Pin Tip Clearance on Flow and Heat Transfer at Low Reynolds Numbers

2008 ◽  
Vol 130 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Rozati ◽  
Danesh K. Tafti ◽  
Neal E. Blackwell

Cylindrical pin fins with tip clearances are investigated in the low Reynolds number range 5<ReD<400 in a plane minichannel. Five tip gaps are investigated ranging from a full pin fin (t*=0.0) to a clearance of t*=0.4D*, where D* is the pin diameter. It is established that unlike high Reynolds number flows, the flow and heat transfer are quite sensitive to tip clearance. A number of unique flow effects, which increase the heat transfer performance, are identified. The tip gap affects the heat transfer coefficient by eliminating viscosity dominated end wall effects on the pin, by eliminating the pin wake shadow on the end walls, by inducing accelerated flow in the clearance, by reducing or impeding the development of recirculating wakes, and by redistributing the flow along the height of the channel. In addition, tip gaps also reduce form losses and friction factor. A clearance of t*=0.3D* was found to provide the best performance at ReD<100; however, for ReD>100, both t*=0.2D* and 0.3D* were comparable in performance.

Author(s):  
Jin Xu ◽  
Jiaxu Yao ◽  
Pengfei Su ◽  
Jiang Lei ◽  
Junmei Wu ◽  
...  

Convective heat transfer enhancement and pressure loss characteristics in a wide rectangular channel (AR = 4) with staggered pin fin arrays are investigated experimentally. Six sets of pin fins with the same nominal diameter (Dn = 8mm) are tested, including: Circular, Elliptic, Oblong, Dropform, NACA and Lancet. The relative spanwise pitch (S/Dn = 2) and streamwise pitch (X/Dn = 4.5) are kept the same for all six sets. Same nominal diameter and arrangement guarantee the same blockage area in the channel for each set. Reynolds number based on channel hydraulic diameter is from 10000 to 70000 with an increment of 10000. Using thermochromic liquid crystal (R40C20W), heat transfer coefficients on bottom surface of the channel are achieved. The obtained friction factor, Nusselt number and overall thermal performance are compared with the previously published data from other groups. The averaged Nusselt number of Circular pin fins is the largest in these six pin fins under different Re. Though Elliptic has a moderate level of Nusselt number, its pressure loss is next to the lowest. Elliptic pin fins have pretty good overall thermal performance in the tested Reynolds number range. When Re>40000, Lancet has a same level of performance as Circular, but its pressure loss is much lower than Circular. These two types are both promising alternative configuration to Circular pin fin used in gas turbine blade.


Author(s):  
Kathryn L. Kirsch ◽  
Jason K. Ostanek ◽  
Karen A. Thole ◽  
Eleanor Kaufman

Arrays of variably-spaced pin fins are used as a conventional means to conduct and convect heat from internal turbine surfaces. The most common pin shape for this purpose is a circular cylinder. Literature has shown that beyond the first few rows of pin fins, the heat transfer augmentation in the array levels off and slightly decreases. This paper provides experimental results from two studies seeking to understand the effects of gaps in pin spacing (row removals) and alternative pin geometries placed in these gaps. The alternative pin geometries included large cylindrical pins and oblong pins with different aspect ratios. Results from the row removal study at high Reynolds number showed that when rows four through eight were removed, the flow returned to a fully-developed channel flow in the gap between pin rows. When larger alternative geometries replaced the fourth row, heat transfer increased further downstream into the array.


2012 ◽  
Vol 134 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Rao ◽  
Yamin Xu ◽  
Chaoyi Wan

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.


Author(s):  
X. Chi ◽  
T. I.-P. Shih ◽  
K. M. Bryden ◽  
S. Siw ◽  
M. K. Chyu ◽  
...  

CFD simulations were performed to study the flow and heat transfer in a rectangular duct (Wd × Hd, where Wd/Hd = 3) with a staggered array of circular pin fins (D = Hd/4) mounted on the two opposite walls separated by Hd. For this array of pin fins, five different pin-fin height (H) combinations were examined, and they are (1) H = Hd = 4D (i.e., all pin fins extended from wall to wall), (2) H = 3D on both walls, (3) H = 2D on both walls, (4) H = 4D on one wall and H = 2D on the opposite wall, and (5) H = 3D on one wall and H = 2D on the opposite wall. The H values studied give H/D values of 2, 3, and 4 and C/D values of 2, 1, and 0, where C is the distance between the pin-fin tip and the opposite wall. For all cases, the duct wall and pin-fin surface temperatures were maintained at Tw = 313.15 K; the temperature and the speed of the air at the duct inlet were uniform at Tinlet = 343.15 K and U = 8.24 m/s; the pressure at the duct exit was fixed at Pb = 1 atm; and the Reynolds number based on the duct hydraulic diameter and duct inlet conditions was Re = 15,000. This CFD study is based on 3-D steady RANS, where the ensemble averaged continuity, compressible Navier-Stokes, and energy equations are closed by the thermally perfect equation of state and the two-equation realizable k-ε turbulence model with wall functions and with the low-Reynolds number model of Chen and Patel in the near-wall region. The usefulness of this CFD study was assessed by comparing predicted heat-transfer coefficient and friction factor with available experimental data. Results are presented to show how the flow induced by arrays of pin fins of different heights affects temperature distribution, surface heat transfer, and pressure loss.


Author(s):  
Gaoliang Liao ◽  
Xinjun Wang ◽  
Xiaowei Bai ◽  
Ding Zhu ◽  
Jinling Yao

By using the CFX software, the three-dimensional flow and heat transfer characteristics in the cooling duct with pin-fin in the blade trailing edge were numerically simulated. The effects of pin-fin arrangements, Reynolds number, steam superheat degrees, streamwise pin density and convergence angle of the wedge duct on the flow and heat transfer characteristics were analysed. The results show that the Nusselt number on the endwall and pin-fin surfaces as well as the pin-fin row averaged Nusselt number increase with the increasing of Reynolds number, while it decreased with the with the increasing of X/D. The pressure drop increases with the increasing of Reynolds number while decreases with the increasing of X/D in the wedge duct. The degree of superheat has little effect on the pressure loss in the wedge duct. A comprehensive analysis and comparison show that the highest thermal performance is reached in the wedge duct when the value of X/D is 1.5.


2012 ◽  
Vol 134 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Rao ◽  
Chaoyi Wan ◽  
Shusheng Zang

An experimental and numerical study was conducted to investigate the flow and heat transfer characteristics in channels with pin fin-dimple combined arrays of different configurations, where dimples are located transversely or both transversely and streamwisely between the pin fins. The flow structure, friction factor, and heat transfer characteristics of the pin fin-dimple channels of different configurations have been obtained and compared with each other for the Reynolds number range of 8200–50,500. The experimental study showed that, compared to the pin fin channel, depending on the configurations of the pin fin-dimple combined arrays the pin fin-dimple channel can have distinctively further improved convective heat transfer performance by 8.0%–20.0%, whereas lower or slightly higher friction factors over the studied Reynolds number range. Furthermore, three-dimensional and steady-state conjugate computations have been carried out for similar experimental conditions. The numerical computations showed detailed characteristics of the distribution of the velocity and turbulence level in the flow, which revealed the underlying mechanisms for the pressure loss and heat transfer characteristics in the pin fin-dimple channels of different configurations.


2022 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Ce Liang ◽  
Yu Rao ◽  
Jianian Chen ◽  
Peng Zhang

Abstract Experiments and numerical simulations under stationary and rotating conditions have been conducted to investigate turbulent flow and heat transfer characteristics of innovative guiding pin fin arrays in a wedge-shaped channel, which models the internal cooling passages for gas turbine blade trailing edge. The Reynolds number range is 10,000-80,000, and the inlet rotation number range is 0-0.46. With the increase of Reynolds numbers, the enhancement of heat transfer performance with guiding pin fin arrays is significantly higher than that with conventional circular pin fin arrays. At the highest Reynolds number of Re=80,000, the overall Nusselt number of the channel with guiding pin fin arrays is about 33.7% higher than that of the channel with circular pin fin arrays under the stationary condition, and is about 23.0% higher than the latter under the rotating conditions. At the highest inlet rotation number of Ro=0.46, the heat transfer difference between the trailing side and leading side of the channel is significantly lower with the guiding pin fin arrays. Both the experiments and numerical simulations indicate that the heat transfer uniformity and enhancement of the channel endwall is significantly improved by the guiding pin fin arrays under stationary and rotating conditions, which provide more reasonable flow distribution in the wedge-shaped channel, and can further produce obviously improved heat transfer in the tip region for the trailing edge internal cooling channel.


2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 351-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom I.-P. Shih ◽  
Yu-Liang Lin ◽  
Mark A. Stephens

Computations were performed to study the three-dimensional flow and heat transfer in a U-shaped duct of square cross section with inclined ribs on two opposite walls under rotating and non-rotating conditions. Two extreme limits in the Reynolds number (25,000 and 350,000) were investigated. The rotation numbers investigated are 0, 0.24, and 0.039. Results show rotation and the bend to reinforce secondary flows that align with it and to retard those that do not. Rotation was found to affect significantly the flow and heat transfer in the bend even at a very high Reynolds number of 350,000 and a very low Rotation number of 0:039. When there is no rotation, the flow and heat transfer in the bend were dominated by rib-induced secondary flows at the high Reynolds number limit and by bend-induced pressure-gradients at the low Reynolds number limit. Long streaks of reduced surface heat transfer occur in the bend at locations where streamlines from two contiguous secondary flows merge and then flow away from the surface. The location and size of these streaks varied markedly with Reynolds and rotation numbers.This computational study is based on the ensemble-averaged conservation equations of mass, momentum (compressible Navier-Stokes), and energy. Turbulence is modelled by the low-Reynolds shear-stress transport (SST) model of Menter. Solutions were generated by using a cell-centered, finite-volume method, that is based on second-order accurate flux-difference splitting and a diagonalized alternating-direction implicit scheme with local time-stepping and V-cycle multigrid.


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