Numerical study of thermal and hydrodynamic characteristics of turbulent flow in hybrid corrugated channels with different wave profiles

The geometry of the wave profiles used in corrugated channels affects the flow and thermal characteristics. It is possible to increase thermal and hydraulic performance by simply changing the groove profile's shape without using any additional energy. Therefore, this numerical study focused on the flow and thermal performance of different groove profiles in hybrid corrugated channels. The study was conducted using the finite volume method (FVM) with the standard k- epsilon turbulence model. The study consisted of three different hybrid corrugated channel flows created by combining the rectangular groove profile and the circular, trapezoidal, and triangular -shaped groove profiles separately. In addition, the numerical results were compared with the rectangular corrugated duct and the straight duct. The corrugated surfaces were kept constant at T- w = 380 K. Nusselt number, friction factor, and performance factor were calculated for different Reynolds numbers (2000 <= Re <= 10000). Images of flow and temperature contours were presented to demonstrate the effects of groove profiles. According to the numerical findings, the combination of the rectangular groove profile with other groove profiles significantly improved the heat transfer without any significant increase in pressure drop. The thermal performance was significantly affected by Re and the hybrid groove profiles. The rectangular -circular and rectangular -trapezoidal hybrid corrugated channels showed similar behaviors in terms of hydraulic and thermal attitude. It was determined that heat transfer in rectangular -circular and rectangular -trapezoidal hybrid groove profiles improved 4.38 times compared to straight ducts at Re = 8000 and 1.23 times compared to rectangular corrugated ducts at Re = 2000.