Effect of the Asymmetric Baffle Shape on the Thermal Performance Using Non-Newtonian Fluids

The efficiency of industrial heat equipment can be increased using baffles. The shape of baffles is one of the effective parameters. In this work, the effect of shapes of asymmetric baffles on the thermal performance has been investigated. Four different shapes as rectangular diagonal, trapezoidal, triangular and semi-ellipsoid, as well as, vertical rectangle (as the base model) were used. Also, four non-Newtonian fluids were used as the working fluid. The governing equation, which models the physical phenomenon, was solved with the finite volume method. The results showed that better thermal performance could be observed with semi-ellipsoid baffle for all four non-Newtonian fluids. However, for different models of non-Newtonian fluids, the average of increasing of thermal performance with different percent was achieved. By comparing different models of non-Newtonian fluids, shear-thinning model shows better thermal performance than other models.