Forced convection through a wavy-wall channel

The rate of heat transfer for flowing through a periodic array of wavy-wall channel have been analyzed by a simple coordinate transformation method and the spline alternating-direction implicit method. The effects of the amplitude-wavelength ratio, Reynolds number and Prandtl number on the skin friction and Nusselt number have been studied. In this wavy-wall channel, the amplitudes of the Nusselt number, average Nusselt number and skin-friction coefficient will increase with the Reynolds number and the amplitude-wavelength ratio. Both influences are manifest in minimum cross section of wavy-wall channel and tiny change in maximum cross-section. The heat transfer enhancement is not large at smaller amplitude wavelength ratio, but at sufficiently larger amplitude wavelength ratio the corrugated channel will be an effective heat transfer device, especially for higher Reynolds number.