Direct numerical simulation of turbulent heat transfer in a square duct with transverse ribs mounted on one wall

Turbulent heat transfer in a ribbed square duct of three different blockage ratios are investigated using direct numerical simulation (DNS). The results of ribbed duct cases are compared with those of a heated smooth duct flow. It is observed that owing to the existence of the ribs and confinement of the duct, organized secondary flows appear as large streamwise-elongated vortices, which intensely interact with the rib elements and four sidewalls and have profound influences on the transport of momentum and thermal energy. This study also shows that the drag and heat transfer coefficients are highly sensitive to the rib height. It is observed that as the rib height increases, the impinging effect of the flow on the windward face of the rib strengthens, leading to enhanced rates of turbulent mixing and heat transfer. The influence of sidewalls and rib height on the turbulence structures associated with temperature fluctuations are analyzed based on multiple tools such as vortex swirling strengths, temporal auto-correlations, spatial two-point cross-correlations, joint probability density functions (JPDF) between the temperature and velocity fluctuations, statistical moments of different orders, and temperature spectra.