CFD Simulation of Heat Transfer Enhancement by Rectangular, Trapezoidal, Delta Winglet Type Vortex Generators

Numerical CFD simulation was carried out to investigate the performance of winglet vortex generators of various dimensions and shapes. Mainly three types rectangular, trapezoidal and delta type are taken for study. Performance of the VGs in terms of dimensionless numbers (Colburn number, Friction factor, Nusselt number) is compared with changing shape of vortex generators, Reynolds number and attack angle. The processes in solving the simulation consist of modeling and meshing the basic geometry of rectangular channel with VGs using the package ANSYS ICEM CFD 15.0.Result are examined and graphs are made for getting comparative results of performance variation of VGs. This work presents a numerically study on the mean Nusselt number, Colburn factor, friction factor and heat enhancement characteristics in a rectangular channel having a pair of winglet type VGs under uniform heat flux of 416.67 W/m^2. The result showed that curved winglets have better heat transfer enhancement and low flow resistance than the plane winglets. Effect of angle of attack is studied; results showed that lower attack angle gives better performance. Reynolds number (9000, 15000, 21000) are taken for study. Higher Reynolds number gives better performance with lower friction resistance to flow having lesser pressure drop.