The Influence of Flexible Strip Height on Convective Heat Transfer Enhancement

Abstract

A 12.7 mm wide flexible rectangular strip, made from 0.1 mm-thick aluminum sheet, is experimentally explored as a vortical flow generator for promoting heat convection from a flat plate in a wind tunnel. The strip is positioned normal to the freestream with an incoming velocity of 10 m/s, resulting in a Reynolds number, based on the strip width, of 8,500. The influence of the height of the flexible strip on the convective heat transfer enhancement is of interest. Three strip heights, 25.4 mm, 38.1 mm and 50.8 mm, were investigated. The heat transfer results are expressed in terms of Nusselt number, Nu, normalized by the unperturbed reference Nu0. The shortest, 25.4 mm high flexible strip resulted in the highest peak and overall heat transfer enhancement. The distribution of the local heat transfer enhancement is found to correlate well with the turbulent flow motion detailed using a triple-sensor hot-wire anemometer. Pointedly, the heat transfer rate is most elevated when the local flow is moving toward the hot plate, sweeping across a stretch of the surface before moving away from it. These effective convective motions are most effectively generated by the vortices produced by the shortest strip.