Nusselt Number and Friction Factor Correlations Development for Arc-Shape Apex Upstream Artificial Roughness in Solar Air Heater

In the present work an outdoor experimental investigation for solar air heater with arc-shaped apex-upstream flow by the use of circular cross section wires as roughness elements has been carried out. The roughness-element have been expressed in non-dimensionalizing geometric parameters as relative roughness-pitch (P/e), relative roughness-height (e/D) and flow attack-angle (α/60), and the range of these parameters varies from 8 to 15, 0.0454, and 0.75 to 1.25, respectively. For evaluation of performance of the roughened SAH, a novel parameter has been proposed and introduced in the present investigation which is Thermo-Hydraulic Improvement Parameter (THIP). With the use of present roughness geometry, considerably Nusselt number enhancement ratio (NNER) and friction factor enhancement ratio (FFER) have been observed. The maximum NNER and FFER values obtained experimentally is about 2.83 and 1.79 times, respectively. While, the maximum THIP has been obtained 157.49% higher than the smooth SAH. Using the experimental results correlations for the output parameters (Nusselt number and friction factor) as a function of input parameters (flow and roughness) have been developed.

Thermal–hydraulic analysis of a solar air heater fitted with a wire-roughened absorber plate

This study is to evaluate heat transmission and friction in a rectangular solar air heater with a V-shaped wire rib roughness on the absorber plate that operates in fully formed turbulent flow. Additionally, studies are performed to generate prediction equations for the average friction factor, Stanton number, and efficiency index. The Reynolds number [Formula: see text]–[Formula: see text], angle of attack [Formula: see text]20[Formula: see text]–90[Formula: see text]), relative roughness pitch [Formula: see text]–[Formula: see text], relative roughness height [Formula: see text]–[Formula: see text], and the aspect ratio [Formula: see text]–[Formula: see text] was varied. The efficiency index [Formula: see text] is commonly employed as a thermo-hydraulic performance metric. It is computed as [Formula: see text]. The wire roughness and airflow parameters [Formula: see text] are optimized to maximize heat transfer while retaining minimal friction losses. On the basis of resemblance criteria, average Stanton numbers, average Nusselt numbers, and even average friction factors are derived. The results are compared to those obtained with a smooth absorber duct under similar airflow circumstances in order to assess the increase in heat transfer coefficient and friction factor. The [Formula: see text], and [Formula: see text] have a significant influence on thermo–hydraulic performance, according to these studies. With [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], and [Formula: see text], the optimal configuration geometry for wire roughness and solar air heater duct is identified.

Surface Roughness Effects on Flows Past Two Circular Cylinders in Tandem Arrangement at Co-Shedding Regime

This paper contributes by investigating surface roughness effects on temporal history of aerodynamic loads and vortex shedding frequency of two circular cylinders in tandem arrangement. The pair of cylinders is immovable; of equal outer diameter, D; and its geometry is defined by the dimensionless center-to-center pitch ratio, L/D. Thus, a distance of L/D = 4.5 is chosen to characterize the co-shedding regime, where the two shear layers of opposite signals, originated from each cylinder surface, interact generating counter-rotating vortical structures. A subcritical Reynolds number of Re = 6.5 × 104 is chosen for the test cases, which allows some comparisons with experimental results without roughness effects available in the literature. Two relative roughness heights are adopted, nominally ε/D = 0.001 and 0.007, aiming to capture the sensitivity of the applied numerical approach. Recent numerical results published in the literature have reported that the present two-dimensional model of surface roughness effects is able to capture both drag reduction and full cessation of vortex shedding for an immovable cylinder near a moving ground. That roughness model was successfully blended with a Lagrangian vortex method using sub-grid turbulence modeling. Overall, the effects of relative roughness heights on flows past two cylinders reveal changing of behavior of the vorticity dynamics, in which drag reduction, intermittence of vortex shedding, and wake destruction are identified under certain roughness effects. This kind of study is very useful for engineering conservative designs. The work is also motivated by scarcity of results previous discussing flows past cylinders in cross flow with surface roughness effects.

Influence of a rough surface on the aerodynamic characteristics of a rotating cylinder

The article considers the influence of the relative roughness of a cylindrical blade on aerodynamic characteristics. It is known that the operation basis of blades under consideration is the Magnus effect, which is characterized by appearance of a lifting force (Magnus force), when the cylinders rotate in a transverse flow. This force is used to rotate the wind wheel, similar to lifting force, but can have a much larger value when selecting optimal conditions, both geometric and aerodynamic. The authors conducted a comparative analysis of cylinder layout with a relative roughness (0.005 ÷ 0.02). Experimental studies of aerodynamics process of rotating cylinders were carried out in the aerodynamic laboratory using the T-1-M wind tunnel at an air flow value of 5 to 15 m/s. Graphs of dependences of rotating cylinder's lifting force and drag force on the changing air flow velocity and on relative roughness, k/d, are obtained. For further study experimental cylinder layout’s aerodynamic parameters, the most optimal is the variant with a relative roughness value of 0.02, which had high indicators, was selected. In the course of experimental studies, graphs of the dependence of the values of lift and drag force on the angles of attack of a single rotating cylinder with a rough surface on the speed and angle of attack of the wind flow (0°, 30° and 60°) were obtained. It is established that the effective angle of attack is 0°, at which aerodynamic characteristics’s maximum values were obtained.

CFD Numerical Investigation of a New Solar Flat Air-Collector Having Different Obstacles with Various Configurations and Arrangements

This work deals with a numerical parametric optimization study of a new Solar Flat Air Collector (SFAC) configuration. The CFD numerical parametric study investigates various SFAC structures inside the air cavity without obstacles and with spherical, cubic, cylindrical, and pyramidal obstacles. The study optimizes the most convenient configuration and arrangement that allow for the increase of the heat-transfer surface and to make the flow homogeneous in order to generate turbulence zones inside the SFAC air cavity. The result shows that the thermal performances of the cubic form are close to those of the spherical obstacles. Another set of simulations was performed to evaluate the performances of the cubic shape baffles for three orientation angles equal to 0°, 22.5°, and 45°, respectively. Each configuration has three forms of arrangement with a relative roughness pitch (b/a) varying between 2, 4, and 6. The results of the simulation study showed that the relative roughness pitch, the Reynolds number, as well as the angle of orientation influence the performance and the operation of the SFAC. The results of the simulations showed that the combination of an orientation of 45° with a roughness pitch of b/a = 2 increases the SFAC thermal performances, which can reach 85%.

Experimental and numerical study of bed roughness effect on longitudinal dispersion

The effects of bed roughness on the longitudinal dispersion coefficient (DL) were experimentally and numerically investigated in the present study. The tracer experiments were first carried out in a circular flume with a diameter of 1.6 m over both smooth and rough beds (coarse sand) with four sizes (ks = d65) of 1.04, 2.09, 3.01, and 4.24 mm. In addition, the one-dimensional advection-dispersion equation was numerically solved. The longitudinal dispersion coefficient was calculated by comparing the numerical and experimental breakthrough curves. The results showed that by increasing the bed roughness height (from zero to 4.24 mm), the longitudinal dispersion coefficient increased by 34%. In addition, the longitudinal dispersivity (λ = DL/V) increased with increasing relative roughness (ks/h), so that the range of longitudinal dispersivities in smooth bed experiments were 0.037–0.049 m and for rough bed (ks = 4.24 mm) were 0.07–0.084 m. In other words, with increasing the bed roughness height from zero (smooth bed) to 4.24 mm, the longitudinal dispersivities increased from 0.037 to 0.077 m, indicating an increase of about 108%. Furthermore, a relationship was developed using non-dimensional longitudinal dispersion (DL/(Vh)) as a function of relative roughness (ks/h). It can be concluded that taking into consideration bed roughness as the driving force of shear dispersion would improve predictive equations of the longitudinal dispersion in the rivers. Since the bottom of all natural rivers has roughness elements with different sizes, the results of this study will definitely be useful in estimating the longitudinal dispersion coefficient in natural rivers and quantifying the effect of roughness in the longitudinal dispersion coefficient equations.

Heat transfer measurement in a rectangular channel of solar air heater with Winglet type ribs using liquid crystal thermography

This paper deals with the study of heat transfer in solar air heater consisting of Winglet shaped roughness on the absorber plate using liquid crystal thermography technique. The winglet type roughness element was placed on the absorber surface of a rectangular channel solar air heater having an aspect ratio of 4. The absorber surface was heated uniformly by a constant heat flux of 800 W/m2. The non-dimensional roughness parameter considered as relative roughness pitch i.e., P/e, and its values range between 5-12 with Reynolds number (Re) range between 6500 - 22000. The value of angle of attack i.e., alpha and relative roughness width i.e. (W/w) were kept constant, and the relative roughness pitch was varied to measure the heat transfer coefficient. The enhancement in heat transfer has been compared and it is observed that at P/e of 8 for the angle of attack (α) of 60 degrees resulting it's optimum value. The enhancement of heat transfer with the increase in Reynolds number is also noted.

Experimental Analysis of Incipient Motion for Uniform and Graded Sediments

So far, few studies have focused on the concept of critical flow velocity rather than bed shear stress for incipient sediment motion. Moreover, few studies have focused on sediment mixtures (graded sediment) and shape rather than uniform sediment for incipient motion condition. Different experiments were conducted at a hydraulic laboratory at the University of Guilan in 2015 to determine hydraulic parameters on the incipient motion condition. The aim of this study is to conduct a comparison between uniform and graded sediments, and a comparison between round and angular sediments. Experiments included rounded uniform bed sediments of 5.17, 10.35, 14 and 20.7 mm, angular uniform sediment of 10.35 mm, and graded sediment. Results demonstrated that angular sediment has a higher critical shear velocity than rounded sediment for incipient motion. Results also showed that for a given bed sediment, although critical shield stress and relative roughness increased with the bed slope, the particle Froude number (based on critical velocity) decreased. In terms of the sediment mixture, the critical shear stress (Vc*) was higher for the graded sediment than for the three finer uniform sediment sizes. The finer fractions of the mixture have a higher particle Froude number than their corresponding uniform sediment value, while the coarser fractions of the mixture showed a lower stability than their corresponding uniform sediment value. Results demonstrated that the reduction in the particle Froude number was more evident in lower relative roughness conditions. The current study provides a clearer insight into the interaction between initial sediment transport and flow characteristic, especially particle Froude number for incipient motion in natural rivers where stream beds have different gravel size distribution.

A FRACTAL MODEL FOR PREDICTING OXYGEN EFFECTIVE DIFFUSIVITY OF POROUS MEDIA WITH ROUGH SURFACES UNDER DRY AND WET CONDITIONS

Oxygen diffusion in porous media (ODPM) with rough surfaces (RS) under dry and wet conditions is of great interest. In this work, a novel fractal model for the oxygen effective diffusivity of porous media with RS under dry and wet conditions is proposed. The proposed fractal model is expressed in terms of relative roughness, the water saturation, fractal dimension for tortuosity of tortuous capillaries, fractal dimension for pores, and porosity. It is observed that the normalized oxygen diffusivity decreases with increasing relative roughness and fractal dimension for capillary tortuosity. It is found that the normalized oxygen diffusivity increases with porosity and fractal dimension for pore area. Besides, it is seen that that the normalized oxygen diffusivity under wet condition decreases with increasing water saturation. The determined normalized oxygen diffusivity is in good agreement with experimental data and existing models reported in the literature. With the proposed analytical fractal model, the physical mechanisms of oxygen diffusion through porous media with RS under dry and wet conditions are better elucidated. Every parameter in the proposed fractal model has clear physical meaning, with no empirical constant.