Effect of Vortex Generator Placement and Nanofluids on Channel Flow Heat Transfer

AbstractIn this research, an attempt has been made to enhance the heat transfer for a plate-fin heat exchanger with the new arrangement of classic delta winglets used for vortex generators and compared the same with the existing literature. The computational domains are developed by dislocating delta winglets from their original position, so there is no additional pressure loss with flow geometry. All the flow domains are analyzed by computing the 3D Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes equations using ANSYS Fluent. Two different working fluids are considered one is water and nanofluids (water with Aluminum oxide). Heat transfer characteristics are analyzed for different placements of winglets for both water and nanofluids. The plate-fin heat exchanger’s performance has been optimized with the optimum location of winglets and nanofluids from the analysis of numerical results. For the case of 0% nanofluids at 300 Reynolds number, Case 3 Nusselt number has been increased by 23.2% with a decrease in pressure drop of 17.7% with the dislocation of one winglet. It represents the enhancement of heat transfer. Disclosure statementThe authors declare no conflict of interest in this research work.Additional informationNotes on contributorsObula Reddy KummithaObula Reddy Kummitha is an Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, B V Raju Institute of Technology, Narsapur, India. He obtained his Doctorate and Master of Technology in Thermal Engineering from NIT Silchar in 2020 and 2013, respectively. For the past 7 years, he has been working on supersonic combustion, energy efficient buildings, heat transfer, and computational fluid dynamics.Siva Krishna Reddy DwarshalaSiva Krishna Reddy Dwarshala is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, India. He obtained his Doctorate from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, in 2012. He has 6 years of industrial experience as a computational fluid dynamics engineer from 2011 to 2017. For the past 7 years, he has been working on supersonic combustion, energy efficient buildings, and heat transfer.Karthik CharyKarthik Chary is pursuing a Bachelor of Technology in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, B V Raju Institute of Technology, Narsapur, India. His research interests are heat transfer, fluid Mechanics and computational fluid dynamics.Venu MangamVenu Mangam is Professor and HOD at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vishnu Institute of Technology, Vishnupur, Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh, India. He has 18 years of teaching experience and has published many articles in peer-reviewed journals. He obtained his Doctorate from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, in 2011.Harikrishna ChiralaHarikrishna Chirala is an Associate Professor and HOD of the Mechanical Engineering Department, Shri Vishnu Engineering College for Women(A), Bhimavaram. He has completed his Ph.D. in the area of metal forming processes. His research areas include additive manufacturing, welding, and metal matrix composites. He did his M.Tech from NIT warangal.Naga Malleswararao BattinaNaga Malleswararao Battina is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Shri Vishnu Engineering College for Women, Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh, India. He has been working in the field of metal forming for the past 4 years.