The effects on heat transfer of unsteady flow around two square bars mounted staggered in a plane channel

The unsteady laminar flow and heat transfer characteristics in a plane channel with two square bars mounted staggered to the approaching flow are numerically analyzed. A finite volume method is applied with a fine grid and time resolution. The longitudinal and transverse separation distances between the bars are varied, whereas the bar height to channel height d/H, and the Reynolds number based on channel height Re, are d/H=1/8 and 800 respectively., Complex flow patterns develop in the channel due the interaction between the two staggered square bars. For the cases with L/dgreater than or equal to2 shedding of vortices with only one frequency are present in the flow, and biased flow with frequency modulation of the vortices shedding for the cases with L/d<2 are found. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd.