HEAT TRANSFER AND PRESSURE DROP EVALUATION OF DIFFERENT TRIANGULAR BAFFLE PLACEMENT ANGLES IN CROSS-CORRUGATED TRIANGULAR CHANNELS

Plate heat exchangers have a widespread usage and the simplest parallel plate channel structures. Cross-corrugated ducts are basic channel geometries used in the plate heat exchangers. In this study, the increasing of heat transfer from the cross-corrugated triangular ducts by inserting triangular baffles with different placement angles into the channel upper side and pressure drop have been numerically investigated. Numerical calculations have been carried out to solve Navier-Stokes and energy equations by employing k-epsilon turbulence model as 3-D and steady with ANSYS-FLUENT program. While inlet temperature of the air used as working fluid is 293 K, constant surface temperature values of the the lower corrugated channel walls are 373 K. The height of the baffle and apex angle of the corrugated duct have been taken constant as 0.5 H and 60 degrees, respectively. Investigated Reynolds number range is 1000-6000 while the baffle placement angles are 30 degrees, 45 degrees, 60 degrees, and 90 degrees. Numerical results of this study are within 3.53% deviation with experimental study existed in literature. The obtained results have been presented as mean Nusselt number temperature and pressure variations of the fluid for each baffle angle. The temperature and velocity vector contour distributions have been also assessed for different Reynolds numbers and baffle angles. The value of the Nu(m) for the corrugated channel with 60 degrees baffle angle is 8.2% higher than that of the 90 degrees for the Re = 4000. Besides, for Re = 1000 the value of the pressure drop is 39% lower in the channel with 60 degrees baffle angle than that of 90 degrees.