Heat transfer enhancement mechanics of different micro-disturbing structures for transcritical hydrocarbon fuel using 3-D secondary flow intensity analysis

Heat transfer enhancement based upon micro-disturbing structures becomes increasingly important for thermal protection of air-breathing propulsion systems. To explore the influence mechanism of different structures on heat transfer in regenerative cooling channels of scramjet engines, flow structures and heat transfer of supercritical-pressure n-Decane in mini-channels with dimple and micro-rib arrays are numerically investigated. Results indicate effective heat transfer enhancement inside the channels depends more on efficient transverse turbulence disturbance rather than longitudinal or perpendicular turbulence disturbance. Severe thermal stratification generates strong shear layers in channels, where transverse secondary flows bring much intenser flow mixing than longitudinal secondary flows, especially in transcritical temperature region where the best heat transfer enhancement is obtained. With same characteristic dimensions, longitudinal micro-disturbing structures like dimples have lower flow resistance, but transverse micro-disturbing structures like micro-ribs achieve stronger heat transfer enhancement. Besides, the performance of micro-ribs is much more sensitive to the dimensional change. Therefore, micro ribs have larger working excursion for enhancing performance factor than dimples. With optimal structure parameters: h r = e = 0.3 mm, p r = 3 mm, h d = 0.225 mm, d d = 1.5 mm, overall performance factor in micro-ribbed channel is 1.14 times of that in dimpled channel. Those conclusions provide effective support for optimization design for the regenerative cooling structures.