Experimental investigation on the effect of turbulent intensity on heat transfer in a square rotating channel

In this paper, we experimentally investigated the effect of turbulent intensity on heat transfer in a square rotating channel. The grid generated turbulence is measured by hot-wire, and the heat transfer coefficient is measured by TLCs. In the experiment, the Reynolds number, based on the channel hydraulic diameter (D=80mm) and the bulk mean velocity (V_m=1.82m/s), is 10,000, and the rotation number ranges from 0 to 0.52. The mean density ratio (d.r.=(T_w-T_b)/T_w) is about 0.1 in the current work using transparent heater glass (Indium Tin Oxide) to provide uniform heat flux. Two different turbulent intensity of inlet air (0.6% and 5.5%) are taken into consideration to investigate the heat transfer distribution on the leading and trailing side. The results show that turbulent intensity has an effect on heat transfer on both leading and trailing side, especially at rotating conditions. At static conditions, the effect of turbulent intensity on heat transfer is not obvious. However, with the increase of rotation number, in case B with a medium turbulent intensity (Tu) of 5.5%, the Nu/Nu₀ is about 10% higher than that in the case A with low turbulent intensity of 0.6% with the rotation number of 0.52 at X/D = 2 on trailing side. The enhancement of case B decreases along X/D directions. On the leading side, the turbulent intensity has same effect on heat transfer with that on trailing side, but not as prominent as that on the trailing side. In current work, the turbulent intensities at different X/D directions are also presented to explain the phenomenon of heat transfer in the channel. More detail of results will be presented in this paper.