Milliscale confined impinging slot jets: Laminar heat transfer characteristics for an isothermal flat plate

Heat transfer and overall visualized flow characteristics of confined, laminar milli-scale slot jets are investigated, as they impinge upon an isothermal flat target plate, with a fully-developed profile at the nozzle exit. The effects of Reynolds number Re and normalized nozzle-to-plate distance ratio H/B are investigated for Re = 120-200, H/B = 2-10, and B = 1.0 mm, with a nozzle aspect ratio of y/B = 50. Instantaneous visualizations of overall slot jet flow structure show unsteady lateral distortions of jet columns at experimental conditions corresponding to the presence of continuous sinusoidal oscillations. Also apparent in flow visualization sequences are smoke signatures associated with instantaneous vortex structures which form as secondary flows develop in fluid which, initially, is just adjacent to the jet column. For each Reynolds number considered, local stagnation region Nusselt numbers Nu(0) decrease dramatically as H/B increases to become greater than 7.2-13.2, as the Reynolds number is maintained constant at a value from 200 to 120, changes which occur just as continuous sinusoidal oscillation of the jet column begins to develop. The further development of continuous sinusoidal oscillating motion results in an approximate collapse of stagnation region Nusselt numbers measured at different Re and H/B values. When surface thermal boundary condition data are compared, the constant surface temperature data are generally higher than the constant surface heat flux data near the stagnation location, and lower at locations where x/B is greater than 1-2. The constant surface temperature data also show relatively low values with only very small changes with x/B, for x/B values which are greater than about 5.0. As such, the results illustrate the sensitivity of Nusselt numbers for laminar boundary layer and laminar slot jet flows to thermal boundary condition, as well as the restrictions on near-wall temperature gradients which result from a constant surface temperature thermal boundary condition. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.