Transitional fluid flow numerical modelling in sinusoidal heat exchanger channels

The study focuses on modelling heat transfer and fluid flow in a sinusoidal plate-fin heat exchanger channel at 10 ≤ Re ≤ 1000. The aim is to investigate the modelling of unsteady flows from ≈200, a regime that promotes fluid mixing and improves heat transfer [1]. The channel geometry is taken from a study by Zhang et al. [2], in which steady state simulations were presented. Steady and unsteady numerical simulations are undertaken; with the impact of different turbulence modelling assumptions considered. Predictions for Re > 200 were made using k – ω SST turbulence model. Results obtained agree to the observations by Rush et al. [1]. The study includes exploring and verifying simulation approaches for this regime. A further aim of the study is to compare Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) codes OpenFOAM and Ansys Fluent.