Effect of Rectangular Winglet Pair in Common Flow Down Configuration on Heat Transfer from an Isothermally Heated Plate

Present three-dimensional numerical study aims to investigate the effect of mounting rectangular winglet pair (RWP) on heat transfer enhancement in flow over a flat plate. Computations for incompressible flow of air have been carried out using commercial software ANSYS Fluent. Flow of air has been considered over the surface of an isothermally heated horizontal plate in presence of RWP in the range of Reynolds number from 400 to 2000. Common flow down configuration of RWP has been considered to study the effect of various geometric parameters, such as length of RWP, spacing between leading edges of the winglets and angle of attack of RWP, on flow characteristics and enhancement in heat transfer. Flow and temperature field characteristics have been presented using streamlines and temperature contours near the plate surface and streamlines in cross-stream planes. Enhancement in heat transfer in presence of RWP has been quantified using cross-stream variation of local Nusselt number, streamwise variation of span-averaged Nusselt number and surface-averaged overall Nusselt number.