Effects of Centrifugal Buoyancy and Reynolds Number on Turbulent Heat Transfer in a Two-Pass Angled-RIB-Roughened Channel with Sharp 180° Turns Investigated by Using Large Eddy Simulation

The effects of the centrifugal buoyancy and the Reynolds number on heat transfer in a rotating two-pass rib-roughened channel with 180° sharp turns were numerically investigated by using the large eddy simulation. The effect of the Reynolds number was seen in the finer flow structure. The effect of the aiding/opposing buoyancy contributions was seen more vigorously on the pressure surface than that on the suction surface, though the details depended on the Reynolds number, the rotation number, and the existence of the ribs. As the buoyancy increased, the friction factor dominated by the pressure loss of the sharp turn decreased, and the decreasing rate is smaller for the higher rotation speed case. The Colburn'sjfactor stayed almost constant irrespective of the rotation speed. As a result, the heat transfer efficiency index slightly increased by the buoyancy, and it became smaller for the higher rotation speed and higher Reynolds number cases.