Experimental Investigation of Rotational Effects on Heat Transfer Enhancement Due to Crossflow-Induced Swirl Using Transient Liquid Crystal Thermography

Rotational effects lead to significant nonuniformity in heat transfer (HT) enhancement and this effect is directly proportional to the rotation number (⁠$Ro=ΩD/V)$⁠. Hence, the development of cooling designs, which have less dependence on rotation, is imperative. This paper studied the effect of rotation on crossflow-induced swirl configuration with the goal of demonstrating a new design that has lesser response toward rotational effects. The new design passes coolant from one pass to the second pass through a set of angled holes to induce impingement and swirling flow to generate higher HT coefficients than typical ribbed channels with 180-deg bend between the two passages. Detailed HT coefficients are presented for stationary and rotating conditions using transient liquid crystal (TLC) thermography. The channel Reynolds number based on the channel hydraulic diameter and channel velocity at inlet/outlet ranged from 25,000 to 100,000. The rotation number ranged from 0 to 0.14. Results show that rotation reduced the HT on both sides of the impingement due to the Coriolis force. The maximum local reduction of HT in the present study was about 30%. Rotation significantly enhanced the HT near the closed end because of the centrifugal force and the “pumping” effect, which caused local HT enhancements up to 100%. Compared to U-bend two pass channels, impingement channels had advantages in the upstream channel and the end region, but HT performance was not beneficial on the leading side of the downstream channel.